;.*>;>3is^ 


LINCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


^^-^ 


THE  FIRST  PUBLISHED  LIFE  OF 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

WRITTEN  IN  THE  YEAR  MDCCCLX,  BY 

JOHN  LOCKE  SCRIPPS 

REPRINTED  IN  THE  YEAR  MDCCCC,  BY 

THE  CRANBROOK  PRESS 


ccp 


./ 


45105 


SOMETIME  in  1894  I  received  a.  letter  from  the  Me  Joseph 
P.  Smith,  Librarian  of  the  Ohio  State  Library,  asking  for 
information  about,  or  copies  of,  a  pamphlet  Life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  luritten  in  J  860  by  John  Locke  Scripps  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune.  In  his  letter  he 'wrote :  "  It,  the  pamphlet,  ivas  pub- 
lished in  J  860  immediately  prior  to  or  shortly  after  Mr,  Lin- 
coln's nomination.  Passages  are  quoted  from  it  by  Holland, 
Thayer,  and  other  early  biographers  of  Lincoln,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  most  of  the  biography,  if  not  all,  passed  under  Mr. 
Lincoln's  immediate  personal  revision,  and  hence  its  value," 
J-  This  letter  revealed  to  me  the  fact  that  this  publication,  'ujhich 
at  that  time  I  had  never  seen,  would  possess  rare  value  in  collec- 
tions pertaining  to  the  history  of  this  great  man,  and  at  once  led 
me  to  make  search  for  a  copy,  or  for  information  in  regard  to  it. 
Old  family  letters,  yellowed  and  dimmed  with  age,  were  searched^ 
but  almost  ivithout  success, 

^  Finally  after  hours  and  days  of  research,  in  which  members  of 
the  family  no^i)  ividely  scattered  over  the  United  States  joined  me, 
the  following  portion  of  a  letter  was  discovered  by  my  father's 
brother,  the  late  George  W,  Scripps  of  Detroit: 

I  ha'oe  been  getting  out  a.  campa.ign  Life  of  Lincoln  for  the  million  •which  is  published 
simultaneously  by  us  and  by  the  New  York  Tribune  establishment.  I  presume  a  very  large 
edition  'will  be  sold.  I 'will  send  you  a  copy  by  this  day's  mail.  We  sell  them  at  the  very 
Lrju  rate  of  $20.00  per  thousand.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  comhination  can  defeat  Lincoln. 
Will  the  running  of  the  Bell-Everett  ticket  in  this  State  lose  us  arty  votes  in  Schuyler  ? 

Affectionately,  J.  L.  SCRIPPS. 


j^In  a  tetter  received  from  my  father's  sister,  Mrs.  M.  A.  *Bagby, 
<wife  of  the  late  Judge  J.  C.  Bagby  of  Rushvitle,  EL,  she  says: 
"  I  remember  very  'well  ivhen  Brother  John  'was  in  Springfield,  at 
the  time  he  'wrote  Lincoln's  Life,  and  I  heard  him  talk  a  great  deal 
about  it,  and  of  the  great,  noble  nature  of  that  'wonderful  man/' 
^  A  cousin,  James  E.  Scripps  of  Detroit,  adds  the  following  testi- 
mony :    "  In  regard  to  the  authorship  of  the  pioneer  Life  of  Lin- 
coln I  have  no  documentary  evidence,  but  distinctly  recollect  his 
— J.  L,  Scripps — telling  me  that  he  had  just  finished  'writing  such 
a  'work,  and  that  most  of  the  'writing  he  did  in  the  office  of  the 
Ne'w  York  Tribune.     I  inferred  that  the  pamphlet  'was  published 
jointly  by  the  Ne'w  York  Tribune  and  the  Chicago  Tribune,  and 
that  your  father  undertook  the  labor  of  its  publication.     It  'was 
as  he  passed  through  Detroit,  on  his  'way  home  from  Ne'w  York, 
that  he  told  me  this,  in  explanation  of  his  visit  there." 
^  The  late  Joseph  Medill,  a  former  partner  of  my  father  in  the  Chi- 
cago Tribune,  'wrote  me  in  J  895 :  "  I  remember  the  pamphlet  very 
'well,  as  I  both  furnished  considerable  material  'worked  into  it  by 
your  father,  and  circulated  it  throughout  the  United  States.    I  have 
not  seen  a  copy  of  it  since  the  great  fire  of  187t  in  Chicago.     All 
the  copies  'we  had  in  The  Tribune  'were  consumed  in  the  fire  of 
'7t.     Your  father  'was  never  satisfied  'with  the  pamphlet,  because 
Lincoln  insisted  on  pruning  out  of  it  many  of  its  most  readable 
and  interesting  passages  in  regard  to  Lincoln's  early  life  and  other 
matters." 

jf'  My  efforts  to  find  some  copies  of  this  pamphlet — no  doubt  the 
first  authentic  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  published —  led  me  to 
'write,  north,  south,  east  and  'west,  but  al'ways  'with  the  same  dis- 
couraging result.  During  my  five  years  of  untiring  research,  I  have 
been  able  to  locate  but  four  perfect  copies,  and  it  is  through  the 
courtesy  of  the  Honorable  John  G.  Nicolay  of  Washington,  D.  C, 
that  I  received  from  his  pamphlet  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  missing 
parts  of  my  ozun  mutilated  copy,  and  that  I  'was  enabled  to  go  on 
'with  my  undertaking.  Since  I  received  this  copy  from  Mr.  Nico- 
lay the  other  three  pamphlets  have  come  to  light. 
^In  a  letter  received  from  Mr.  Nicolay  in  June,  J 898,  he  says: 
"  I  have  one  copy,  bound  in  a  volume  'with  other  pamphlets,  of  the 
6 


pamphlet  Life  of  Lincoln  edited  by  your  father,  and  published  by 
the  Chicago  Press  &  Tribune  Co.,  in  J  860.  It  has  the  simple 
title  *  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.'  It  is  very  'well  ivritten,  contains 
32  pages,  printed  in  the  size  and  type  usual  to  campaign  docu- 
ments. I  am  satisfied  he  had  the  same  manuscript  material  'which 
Mr.  Lincoln  furnished  to  W.  D.  Hcnvells,  D.  B.  Bartlett,  and  per- 
haps others  'who  'wrote  campaign  lives." 

^  Hon.  Robert  T.  Lincoln  'wrote:  *' I  am  very  sorry  to  tell  you 
that  I  do  not  possess  even  a  single  copy  of  your  father's  pamphlet 
life  of  my  father.  When  it  <was  published  I  'was  myself  in  the 
East  at  school,  and  'while  I  have  no  doubt  that  my  father  had 
some  copies  of  it,  none  came  to  me  among  the  books  he  left." 
^  W.  H.  Milbum,  the  blind  chaplain  of  Congress,  a  great  admirer 
of  my  father  and  an  intimate  friend  of  the  family,  'wrote:  "  I  sup- 
pose your  father's  influence  did  more  to  secure  Mr.  Lincoln's  nom- 
ination for  the  Presidency  than  that  of  any  other  man." 
^  Hoping  still  to  find  some  of  the  original  pamphlets  in  the  office 
of  the  Ne'w  York  Tribune,  I  'wrote  to  the  Hon.  Whitela'W  Reid, 
who,  in  a  very  courteous  'way,  replied  as  follcnus :  "Ans'wering 
your  recent  inquiry  concerning  the  pamphlet  Life  of  Lincoln  by  your 
father,  I  regret  to  say  that  no  trace  of  it  can  be  found  here.  The 
fact  that  forty  years  have  elapsed,  and  that  the  Tribune  counting 
room  has  undergone  t'wo  removals,  during  the  construction  of  the 
new  building,  one  riot  and  some  small  fires  in  the  interval,  'will 
serve  to  explain  'why  papers  that  have  served  their  purpose  are  not 
apt  to  be  found  no'W  on  file.  Collections  of  matter  about  Mr. 
Lincoln  have  been  made  so  carefully,  and  in  so  many  different  quar- 
ters, that  a  search  for  the  pamphlet  itself  ought  not  to  be  unsuc- 
cessful." 

j^At  the  time  this  publication  'was  circulated  Lincoln's  fame  'was 
only  beginning  to  da'wn,  and,  'while  his  name  'was  in  everybody's 
mouth,  and  his  story  'well  kno'wn,  yet,  campaign  literature  'was 
then,  as  it  still  is,  read,  laid  aside,  forgotten  and  finally  lost,  and  it 
<was  not  until  long  years  had  passed  a'way  that  its  absence  began 
to  be  felt  in  the  collections  of  Lincolniana. 

^  That  my  father  visited  Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  incidents  of  the  nar- 
rative is  an  undoubted  fact,  as  is  seen  by  the  letters  from  Mrs, 

7 


Bagby  and  Mr.  Medttt;  also  from  the  tetters  written  to  Mr.  Hem- 
don  by  my  father,  of<which,  through  the  kindness  of  Mr,  Jesse  Wdk 
of  Greencastle,  Ind.,  I  have  become  the  appreciative  otuner,  and 
'which  I  give  here  in  full: 

Chicago,  May  9th,  t865. 
ify  Dear  Herndon: 

I  am  gtad  you  design  giving  as  something  about  Lincoln.  Your  long  acquaintance  and 
dose  association  •tvith  him  must  have  given  you  a  clearer  insight  into  his  character  than 
other  men  obtained.  I  appreciate  your  compliment  to  the  poor  effort  I  made  in  1860,  I  do 
not  think  if  a  great  stretch  of  modesty  to  say  that  if  it  'were  to  be  done  over,  I  could  improve 
upon  it.  It  is  gratifying  to  me,  however,  to  see  that  the  same  qualities  in  Lincoln  to  tuhich 
I  then  gave  greatest  prominence  are  those  on  v^hich  his  fame  ever  chiefly  rests.  Is  it  not 
true  that  this  is  the  leading  lesson  of  Lincoln's  life  —  that  true  and  enduring  greatness,  the 
greatness  that  'will  survive  the  corrosion  and  abrasion  of  time,  change  and  progress,  mast 
rest  upon  character?  In  certain  shoviy,  and  •what  is  understood  to  he  most  desirable 
endowments,  how  many  Americans  have  surpassed  him  !  Yet,  hov}  he  looms  above  them 
now  I  Not  eloquence,  nor  logic,  nor  grasp  of  thought;  not  statesmanship,  nor  power  of 
command,  nor  courage  —  not  any  or  all  of  these  have  made  him  'what  he  is  —  but  these, 
in  the  degree  in  'which  he  possessed  them,  conjoined  to  those  certain  qualities  composed  in  the 
term  character,  have  given  him  his  fame  —  have  made  him  for  all  time  to  come  the  great 
American  man  —  the  grand  central  figure  m  American,  perhaps  the  'world's,  history. 
J^  Send  me  'whatever  you  may  publish  on  the  subject.  The  plates  on  'which  the  campaign 
life  toas  printed  'were  not  preserved,  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  get  a  copy  of  it  for  you. 
Very  truly  yours,  .J.  L.  SCRIPPS. 

Chicago,  June  20th,  t865. 
Ify  Dear  Herndon: 

The  campaign  Life  of  Lincoln,  to  'which  you  refer  in  your  note  of  the  I 7th  inst.,  <was 
vjritten  by  me,  'with  the  exception  of  a  smalt  portion  of  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  campaign 
between  Lincoln  and  Douglas  in  1858.  The  statements  therein  contained,  as  respects  the 
facts  and  incidents  of  the  early  life  of  Lincoln,  are  substantially  as  communicated  by  him  to 
me  —  some  of  them  in  'Written  memoranda,  others  orally,  in  ans'wer  to  my  queries.  You  can 
place  the  fullest  reliance  in  the  accuracy  of  the  narrative. 

Very  truly  yours, 
Hon.  W.  H.  Herndon.  J.  L.  SCRIPPS. 

j^  Another  letter  in  possession  of  Mr.  Weik,  from  my  father  to  Mr. 
Herndon,  written  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  stated  that  in  his 
book  he  mentioned  the  fact  that  Lincoln  in  his  youth  read  Plutarch' s 
Lives.  This  he  did  simply  because,  as  a  rule,  almost  every  boy  in 
the  West,  in  the  early  days,  did  read  Plutarch.  When  the  advance 
sheets  of  the  book  reached  Mr,  Lincoln  he  sent  for  the  author  and 
said  gravely,  "  That  paragraph  ivherein  you  state  I  read  Plutarch' s 
Lives  ivas  not  true  ivhen  you  ivrote  it,  for  up  to  that  moment  in 
my  life  I  had  never  seen  that  early  contribution  to  human  history, 
but  I  want  your  book,  even  if  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  campaign 
sketch,  to  be  faithful  to  the  facts,  and  in  order  that  that  statement 
8 


might  be  literally  true,  I  secured  the  book  a  few  days  ago  and  have 
just  read  it  through. 

^  This  information  proves  this  to  be  the  foundation  for  all  subse- 
quent and  more  elaborate  'works  on  Lincoln,  since  published. 
^  Ex-Governor  William  Bross,  one  of  the  co-editors  of  The  Chicago 
Tribune  ivhile  my  father  ivas  connected  ivith  it,  says,  in  his  History 
of  Chicago,  that  John  Locke  Scripps  ivas  a  ivarm  personal  friend 
of  Lincoln,  and  it  is  known  that  letters  of  a  friendly,  personal 
nature  often  passed  betiveen  them.  My  father  died  in  1866,  and 
all  his  valuable  correspondence  ivas  lost  sight  of  by  his  family. 
^  The  ivide  correspondence  that  I  have  had  goes  to  shoiv  that 
many  important  libraries  and  historical  societies  and  Lincolniana 
collections  are  'without  a  copy  of  this  valuable  and  important  publi- 
cation, and  that  it  has  of  recent  years  been  much  sought  for  by  col- 
lectors. This  has  led  me  to  have  this  limited  edition  put  before  the 
public  'with  such  information  regarding  its  original  production  as  I 
I  could  obtain.  Not  in  my  own  judgment  alone,  but  in  that  of 
many  most  competent  to  speak,  the  literary  and  historical  merits  of 
this  little  'work  render  it  'worthy  of  being  enshrined  in  the  very 
highest  capabilities  of  the  printer's  art,  and  hence  its  appearance 
in  the  elegant  form  in  'which  it  is  no'w  presented  to  the  reader. 
As  a  memorial  of  John  Locke  Scripps,  'who  did  so  much  for  the 
early  journalistic  life  of  Chicago,  this,  his  Campaign  Life  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  this  valuable  addition  to  Lincolnian  literature,  is 
reprinted  by 

His  devoted  daughter, 

GRACE  LOCKE  SCRIPPS  DYCHE. 
^Evanston,  HI.,  March,  1900. 


A  BRIEF  BIOGRAPHY  OF  JOHN  LOCKE  SCRIPPS,  THE 
AUTHOR  OF  THE  FOLLOWING  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

J- As  the  interest  in  any  book  is  enhanced  by  some  particular 
knoivledge  of  the  author,  no  apology  is  necessary  for  the,  subjoined 
biographical  sketch  of  the  author  of  this  pioneer  life  of  Lincoln. 
J- John  Locke  Scripps  ivas  bom  in  Jackson,  Mo.,  February  27th, 
J8J8.  His  father  ivas  a  native  of  London,  England,  and  one  of 
the  40  delegates  ivho  in  1820  framed  the  first  constitution  of  the 
State  of  Missouri.  Through  his  grandmother  on  his  father's  side 
he  'was  related  to  the  family  of  ivhich  the  famous  author  of  the 
Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding  belonged,  ivhence  his  baptismal 
name.  While  still  young  his  parents  removed  to  Rushville,  III., 
where  the  subject  of  this  sketch  ivas  brought  up  to  hard  manual 
labor  in  his  father's  tannery,  farm  and  store.  Arriving  of  age  he 
entered  himself  as  a  student  in  McKendree  College,  Lebanon,  EL, 
graduated  in  due  time  and  became  professor  of  mathematics  in  the 
same  institution.  Then  he  took  up  the  study  of  laiv  and  in  J  847 
established  himself  in  that  profession  in  the  then  promising  young 
city  of  Chicago. 

^  But  his  tastes  ivere  rather  literary  than  forensic,  and  his  spare 
time  he  devoted  to  articles  and  sketches  for  a  weekly  literary  paper 
called  the  Gem  of  the  Prairie,  then  published  in  Chicago.  The  Chi- 
cago Tribune  ivas  founded  in  this  same  year.  A  feiv  months  later 
the  Gem  ivas  merged  into  it,  and  simultaneously  John  L.  Scripps 
became  a  partner  in  the  concern. 

^  In  his  early  newspaper  days  Mr.  Scripps  did  a  good  deal  for  the 
commercial  interests  of  Chicago  by  personally  editing  the  commer- 
cial columns  of  his  paper,  cultivating  a  ivide  personal  acquaintance 
among  the  business  men  of  the  city,  and  encouraging  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Board  of  Trade.  He  also  ivas  largely  instrumental  in 
securing  the  construction  of  the  Chicago  &  Galena  Union  Railroad, 
the  first  railway  to  enter  Chicago.  In  all  these  ivays  he  entered 
largely  into  the  commercial  life  of  the  city,  of  ivhose  groiving  pros- 
perity he  ivas  alivays  vastly  proud. 

J^In  J  851  Mr.  Scripps,  who  was  politically  a  free-soil  democrat, 
disagreed  ivith  his  partners  in  regard  to  the  political  policy  of  the 

U 


Tribune,  and  selling  out  to  them,  established  in  the  folloiving  year, 
in  connection  with  William  Bross,  the  Chicago  Democratic  Press, 
<which  at  the  outset  ivas  an  ardent  supporter  of  Senator  Stephen  A. 
Douglas.  When  in  1 854  Douglas  committed  himself  to  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  thus  reopened  the  slavery  agita- 
tion, the  Press  abandoned  him  and  soon  after  allied  itself  ivith  the 
ne'wly-formed  Republican  party,  supporting  John  C,  Fremont  for 
the  Presidency  in  1856. 

jf-  On  July  1,  J  858,  the  Press  and  the  Tribune  were  consolidated, 
ivith  Mr.  Scripps  as  chief  editor,  and  from  that  date  began  the 
marked  career  of  prosperity  ivhich  the  Chicago  Tribune  has  since 
enjoyed.  It  ivas  ivhile  occupying  this  position  that  Mr.  Scripps 
had  a  very  large  share  in  securing  the  nomination  and  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency,  in  the  promotion  of  ivhich  great  and 
glorious  end  he  ivrote  and  circulated  the  biography  of  ivhich  the 
folloiving  pages  are  an  exact  reprint.  The  pamphlet  admirably 
illustrates  the  author's  literary  style.  It  is  simple  and  direct,  scru- 
pulously fair  and  truthful,  of  elegant  diction  and  in  every  ivay  a 
model  of  descriptive  ivriting. 

^  Upon  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  Mr.  Scripps  ivas  appointed  post- 
master for  Chicago,  an  office  to  ivhich  he  gave  a  vast  amount  of 
close  study  and  attention,  ivinning  the  reputation  of  being  the  best 
postmaster  that  Chicago  had  up  to  that  time  ever  had.  Upon  the 
outbreak  of  the  ivar  of  the  rebellion  he  raised  and  organized  at  his 
oivn  expense  a  company  of  infantry,  popularly  knoivn  as  the 
Scripps  Guard,  but  enrolled  as  Company  C,  7 2d  Illinois  Volun- 
teers. At  the  close  of  his  term  of  office  failing  health  compelled 
retirement  from  active  duties,  and  on  September  21st,  1866,  he 
passed  aivay. 

^  He  ivas  married  in  1848  to  Mary  Elizabeth  Blanchard  of  Green- 
ville, III.,  by  ivhom  he  had  three  children,  the  eldest  of  ivhich  died 
in  infancy.  Mrs.  Scripps  died  a  feiv  months  before  her  husband. 
^John  L.  Scripps  ivas  a  man  of  the  purest  morals  and  possessed 
of  the  highest  conceptions  of  honor.  Anything  in  itself  ivrong  or 
ignoble  he  scorned,  no  matter  hoiv  much  his  personal  interests  might 
be  concerned.  While  tender  and  conscientious  in  his  relations  ivith 
men,  he  ivas  bold  and  unflinching  in  defense  of  principles.  He 
12 


Hvas  a.  strong  and  polished  ivriter,  a  ivise  and  prudent  business 
man,  an  affectionate  husband  and  father  and  a  ivarm  and  generous 
friend  to  all  ivho  commended  themselves  to  his  notice. 

He  1VAS  a.  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, 
1  ne'er  shall  look  upon  his  like  again. 

^  Feiv  purer  and  nobler  men  have  ever  lived  and  fevj,  from  pro- 
found sympathy  ivith  his  high  qualities,  have  been  better  fitted  to 
be  the  historian  of  the  lamented  Lincoln. 

JAMES  E.  SCRIPPS. 
.^Detroit,  March,  1900. 


LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

CHAPTER  I.  — OF  HIS  ANCESTRY,  THE  HARDSHIPS 
OF  HIS  EARLY  LIFE,  AND  HIS  SELF-EDUCATION. 

T  is  not  known  at  what  period  the  ancestors  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  came  to  America.  The  first  account  that  has  been 
obtained  of  them  dates  back  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  at  which  time  they  were  living  in  Berks  County, 
Pennsylvania,  and  were  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 
Whence  or  when  they  came  to  that  region  is  not  known.  About 
the  middle, of  the  last  century,  the  great-grandfather  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  removed  from  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania,  to  Rocking- 
ham County,  Virginia.  There  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  grandfather, 
and  Thomas  Lincoln,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  were 
bom.  Abraham,  the  grandfather,  had  four  brothers  —  Isaac,  Jacob, 
John,  and  Thomas  —  descendants  of  whom  are  now  living  in  Vir- 
ginia, North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri.  Abra- 
ham removed  to  Kentucky  about  the  year  1780,  and  four  years 
thereafter,  while  engaged  in  opening  a  farm,  he  was  surprised  and 
killed  by  Indians ;  leaving  a  widow,  three  sons,  and  two  daughters. 
The  eldest  son,  Mordecai,  remained  in  Kentucky  until  late  in  life, 
when  he  removed  to  Hancock  County,  Illinois,  where  he  shortly 
afterward  died,  and  where  his  descendants  still  live.  The  second 
son,  Josiah,  settled  many  years  ago  on  Blue  River,  in  Harrison 
County,  Indiana.  The  eldest  daughter,  Mary,  was  married  to 
Ralph  Crume,  and  some  of  her  descendants  are  now  living  in 
Breckenridge  County,  Kentucky.  The  second  daughter,  Nancy, 
was  married  to  William  Brumfield,  and  her  descendants  are  sup- 
posed to  be  living  in  Kentucky. 

.^Thomas,  the  youngest  son,  and  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  by  the  death  of  his  father  and  the  very  narrow  circumstan- 
ces of  his  mother,  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources  while  yet  a 
child.  Traveling  from  neighborhood  to  neighborhood,  working 
wherever  he  could  find  employment,  he  grew  up  literally  without 
education.  He  finally  settled  in  Hardin  County,  where,  in  1806, 
he  was  married  to  Nancy  Hanks,  whose  family  had  also  come  from 
Virginia.    The  fruits  of  this  union  were  a  daughter  and  two  sons. 

15 


One  of  the  latter  died  in  infancy ;  the  daughter  died  later  in  lite, 
having  been  married,  but  leaving  no  issue.  The  sole  survivor  is 
the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

^  Abraham  Lincoln  was  bom  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  Feb- 
ruary 1 2th,  1809.  It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  more  unprom- 
ising circumstances  than  those  under  which  he  was  ushered  into 
life.  His  parents  were  poor  and  uneducated.  They  were  under 
the  social  ban  which  the  presence  of  slavery  always  entails  upon 
poverty.  Their  very  limited  means  and  the  low  grade  of  the 
neighboring  schools,  precluded  the  expectation  of  conferring  upon 
their  children  the  advantages  of  even  a  common  English  educa- 
tion. The  present  inhabitants  of  the  Western  States  can  have  but 
a  faint  idea  of  the  schools  which  fifty  years  ago  constituted  the  only 
means  of  education  accessible  to  the  poorer  classes.  The  teachers 
were,  for  the  most  part,  ignorant,  uncultivated  men,  rough  of 
speech,  uncouth  in  manners,  and  rarely  competent  to  teach  beyond 
the  simplest  rudiments  of  learning  — "  spelling,  reading,  writing," 
and  sometimes  a  very  little  arithmetic.  The  books  of  study  then 
in  vogue,  would  not  now  be  tolerated  in  schools  of  the  lowest 
grade.  The  school-house,  constructed  of  logs,  floorless,  window- 
less,  and  without  inclosure,  was  in  admirable  harmony  with  teacher, 
text-books,  and  the  mode  of  imparting  instruction. 
1^  In  his  seventh  year,  Abraham  was  sent  for  short  periods  to  two 
of  these  schools,  and  while  attending  them  progressed  so  far  as  to 
learn  to  write.  For  this  acquirement  he  manifested  a  great  fond- 
ness. It  was  his  custom  to  form  letters,  to  write  words  and  sen- 
tences wherever  he  found  suitable  material.  He  scrawled  them 
with  charcoal,  he  scored  them  in  the  dust,  in  the  sand,  in  the 
snow  —  anywhere  and  everywhere  that  lines  could  be  drawn,  there 
he  improved  his  capacity  for  writing. 

►^  Meanwhile,  the  worldly  condition  of  the  elder  Lincoln  did  not 
improve.  He  realized  in  his  daily  experience  and  observation  how 
slavery  oppresses  the  poorer  classes,  making  their  poverty  and 
social  disrepute  a  permanent  condition  through  the  degradation 
which  it  affixes  to  labor.  Revolving  this  matter  in  his  mind,  he 
wisely  resolved  to  remove  his  young  family  from  its  presence. 
Accordingly,  in  the  autumn  of  J  816,  he  emigrated  to  Spencer 
16 


County,  Indiana— one  of  the  States  consecrated  forever  to  freedom 
and  free  labor  by  the  Jeffersonian  Ordinance  of  1787,  and  which, 
with  the  States  now  comprising  the  territory  included  in  that  mem- 
orable instrument,  has  afforded  asylum — an  open  field  and  fair 
play — to  thousands  upon  thousands  who  have,  in  like  manner, 
been  driven  from  their  homes  by  that  great  social  scourge  of  the 
"  poor  whites  "  of  the  South. 

1^  Young  Lincoln  was  in  his  eighth  year  when  the  family  removed 
to  Indiana.  They  settled  in  an  unbroken  forest,  gladly  taking 
upon  themselves  all  the  privations  and  hardships  of  a  pioneer  life, 
in  view  of  what  they  had  left  behind  them.  The  erection  of  a 
house  and  the  felling  of  the  forest  was  the  first  work  to  be  done. 
Abraham  was  young  to  engage  in  such  labor,  but  he  was  large  of 
his  age,  stalwart,  and  willing  to  work.  An  ax  was  at  once  placed 
in  his  hands,  and  from  that  time  until  he  attained  his  twenty-third 
year,  when  not  employed  in  labor  on  the  farm,  he  was  almost  con- 
stantly wielding  that  most  useful  implement. 
^  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  family  in  Indiana,  the  friends  who  were 
left  behind  were  to  be  written  to.  The  elder  Lincoln  could  do 
nothing  more  in  the  way  of  writing  than  to  bunglingly  sign  his 
name.  The  mother,  though  a  ready  reader,  had  not  been  taught 
the  accomplishment  of  writing.  In  this  emergency  Abraham's 
skill  as  a  penman  was  put  into  requisition,  and  with  highly  satis- 
factory results.  From  that  time  onward  he  conducted  the  family 
correspondence.  This  fact  soon  becoming  public,  little  Abraham 
was  considered  a  marvel  of  learning  and  wisdom  by  the  simple- 
minded  settlers;  and  ever  afterward,  as  long  as  he  remained  in 
Indiana,  he  was  the  letter-writer  for  the  neighbors  generally,  as 
well  as  for  his  father's  family.  That  he  was  selected  for  this  pur- 
pose was  doubtless  owing  not  more  to  his  proficiency  in  writing 
than  to  his  ability  to  express  the  wishes  and  feelings  of  those  for 
whom  he  wrote  in  clear  and  forcible  language,  and  to  that  oblig- 
ing disposition  that  has  always  distinguished  him  in  subsequent 
life.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  something  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  style 
and  facility  of  composition  in  later  years,  both  as  a  writer  and 
Speaker,  is  to  be  traced  back  to  these  earlier  efforts  as  an  amanu- 
ensis for  the  neighborhood. 

c  17 


i^In  the  autumn  of  J  818,  Abraham,  in  the  loss  of  his  mother,  expe- 
rienced the  first  great  sorrow  of  his  life.  Facts  in  the  possession 
of  the  writer  have  impressed  him  with  the  belief  that,  although  of 
but  limited  education,  she  was  a  woman  of  great  native  strength 
of  intellect  and  force  of  character ;  and  he  suspects  that  those  admi- 
rable qualities  of  head  and  heart  which  characterized  her  distin- 
guished son  are  inherited  mostly  from  her.  She,  as  well  as  her 
husband,  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Baptist  Church.  It  was  her 
custom  on  the  Sabbath,  when  there  was  no  religious  worship  in 
the  neighborhood — a  thing  of  frequent  occurrence — to  employ  a 
portion  of  the  day  in  reading  the  Scriptures  aloud  to  her  family. 
After  Abraham  and  his  sister  had  learned  to  read,  they  shared  by 
turns  in  this  duty  of  Sunday  reading.  This  practice,  continued 
faithfully  through  a  series  of  years,  could  not  fail  to  produce  certain 
effects.  Among  other  things,  its  tendency  was  to  impart  an  accu- 
rate acquaintance  with  Bible  history  and  Bible  teachings;  and  it 
must  also  have  been  largely  instrumental  in  developing  the  reli- 
gious element  in  the  character  of  the  younger  members  of  the  fam- 
ily. The  facts  correspond  with  this  hypothesis.  There  are  few 
men  in  public  life  so  familiar  with  the  Scriptures  as  Mr  Lincoln, 
while  to  those  pious  labors  of  his  mother  in  his  early  childhood  arc 
doubtless  to  be  attributed  much  of  that  purity  of  life,  that  elevation 
of  moral  character,  that  exquisite  sense  of  justice,  and  that  senti- 
ment of  humanity  which  now  form  distinguishing  traits  of  his 
character.  A  year  after  the  death  of  his  mother,  his  father  married 
Mrs.  Sally  Johnston,  at  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky,  a  widow  with 
three  children.  She  proved  a  good  and  kind  mother  to  Abraham. 
She  survives  her  husband,  and  is  now  living  in  Coles  County, 
Illinois. 

•^  After  the  removal  of  the  family  to  Indiana,  Abraham  attended 
school  a  little,  chiefly  in  the  winter,  when  work  was  less  pressing ; 
but  the  aggregate  of  all  the  time  thus  spent,  both  in  Kentucky  and 
Indiana,  did  not  amount  to  one  year  He  is,  therefore,  indebted  to 
schools  for  but  a  very  small  part  of  his  education.  All  men  who 
become  in  any  respect  distinguished,  are,  in  one  sense  at  least,  self- 
made  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  development  and  the  discipline  of  the  intel- 
lect can  only  be  secured  by  self-effort.  Without  this,  assistance  on 
18 


the  part  of  teachers,  however  long  and  continuously  offered,  wiD 
yield  no  fruit.  With  it,  assistance  is  valuable  mainly  in  that  it 
directs  and  encourages  effort.  He  is  said  to  be  a  self-made  man 
who  attains  to  distinction  without  having  enjoyed  the  advantages 
of  teachers  and  of  institutions  of  learning ;  and  in  this  sense  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  is  peculiarly  entitled  to  the  appellation.  His  early 
teachers  were  men  of  scarcely  any  learning,  and  what  he  mastered 
through  their  assistance  consisted  only  of  the  simplest  rudiments  of 
education.  That  subsequent  training  and  disciplining  of  the  intel- 
lect, that  habit  of  close  investigation,  that  power  of  intense  thought, 
which  enable  him  to  master  every  subject  he  investigates,  and 
that  faculty  of  clear  and  forcible  expression,  of  logical  arrangement, 
and  of  overwhelming  argument,  by  which  he  enforces  his  own  well- 
grounded  convictions — all  this  is  the  result  of  his  own  unaided 
exertions,  and  of  a  naturally  sound  and  vigorous  understanding. 
So  far  from  being  indebted  to  institutions  of  learning  for  any  of  the 
qualities  which  characterize  him,  he  was  never  in  a  college  or  an 
academy  as  a  student,  and  was  never,  in  fact,  inside  of  a  college  or 
academy  building  until  after  he  had  commenced  the  practice  of  the 
law.  He  studied  English  grammar  after  he  was  twenty-three 
years  of  age ;  at  twenty-five  he  mastered  enough  of  geometry,  trig- 
onometry, and  mensuration  to  enable  him  to  take  the  field  as  a 
surveyor;  and  he  studied  the  six  books  of  Euclid  after  he  had 
served  a  term  in  Congress,  and  when  he  was  forty  years  of  age, 
amid  the  pressure  of  an  extensive  legal  practice,  and  of  frequent 
demands  upon  his  time  by  the  public. 

■^  Books  were  another  means  of  education  which  young  Lincoln 
did  not  neglect;  but  in  a  backwoods  settlement  of  Indiana,  forty 
years  ago,  books  were  somewhat  rarer  than  now.  They  had  this 
advantage,  however,  over  a  majority  of  the  books  of  the  present 
time :  the  few  that  were  to  be  had  possessed  solid  merit,  and  well 
repaid  the  time  and  labor  given  to  their  study.  Abraham's  first 
book,  after  Dilworth's  spelling-book,  was,  as  has  been  stated,  the 
Bible.  Next  to  that  came  Esop's  Fables,  which  he  read  with 
great  zest,  and  so  often  as  to  commit  the  whole  to  memory.  After 
that  he  obtained  a  copy  of  Pilgrim's  Progress — a  book  which,  per- 
haps, has  quickened  as  many  dormant  intellects  and  started  into 

19 


vigorous  growth  the  religious  element  of  as  many  natures,  as  any 
other  in  the  English  language.  Then  came  the  life  of  Franklin, 
Weems'  Washington,  and  Riley's  Narrative.  Over  the  two  for- 
mer the  boy  lingered  with  rapt  delight.  He  followed  Washington 
and  brave  Ben.  Franklin  through  their  early  trials  and  struggles  as 
well  as  through  their  later  triumphs ;  and  even  then,  in  the  midst 
of  his  cramped  surroundings,  and  in  the  face  of  the  discourage- 
ments which  beset  him  on  every  hand,  his  soul  was  lifted  upwards, 
and  noble  aspirations  which  never  afterwards  forsook  him,  grew 
up  within  him,  and  great  thoughts  stirred  his  bosom— thoughts  of 
emancipated  nations,  of  the  glorious  principles  which  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  human  freedom,  and  of  honorable  fame  acquired  by 
heroic  endeavors  to  enforce  and  maintain  them.  These  books  con- 
stituted the  boy's  library.  When  he  was  fourteen  or  fifteen  years 
of  age,  he  learned  that  one  Mr.  Crawford,  a  distant  neighbor,  had 
in  his  house  Ramsey's  Life  of  Washington — a  book  which  he  was 
told  gave  a  fuller  and  better  account  of  Washington  and  the  Rev- 
olution than  the  volume  he  had  read  with  so  much  pleasure.  He 
at  once  borrowed  the  book,  and  devoured  its  contents.  By  some 
accident  the  volume  was  exposed  to  a  shower  and  badly  damaged. 
Young  Lincoln  had  no  money,  but  he  knew  how  to  work.  He 
went  to  Crawford,  told  him  what  had  happened,  and  expressed  his 
readiness  to  work  out  the  full  value  of  the  book.  Crawford  had 
a  field  of  com,  which  had  been  stripped  of  the  blades  as  high  as 
the  ear,  preparatory  to  cutting  off  the  tops  for  winter  fodder  for  his 
cattle.  He  expressed  his  willingness  to  square  accounts  if  Lincoln 
would  cut  the  tops  from  that  field  of  com.  The  offer  was  promptly 
accepted,  and  with  three  days  of  hard  labor  the  book  was  paid  for, 
and  young  Lincoln  returned  home  the  proud  possessor  of  another 
volume.  Not  long  after  this  incident,  he  was  fortunate  enough 
to  get  possession  of  a  copy  of  Plutarch's  Lives.  What  fields  of 
thought  its  perusal  opened  up  to  the  stripling,  what  hopes  were 
excited  in  his  youthful  breast,  what  worthy  models  of  probity,  of 
justice,  of  honor,  and  of  devotion  to  great  principles  he  resolved  to 
pattern  after,  can  be  readily  imagined  by  those  who  are  familiar 
with  his  subsequent  career,  and  who  have  themselves  lingered 
over  the  same  charmed  page. 
20 


•^Listening  occasionally  to  the  early  backwoods  preachers,  was 
another  means  which,  more  than  schools,  and,  perhaps,  quite  as 
much  as  books,  aided  in  developing  and  forming  the  character  of 
young  Lincoln.  It  has  already  been  stated  that  his  parents  were 
pious  members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Among  the  backwoods- 
men of  Indiana,  at  that  period,  sectarianism  did  not  run  as  high  as 
it  probably  does  in  the  same  section  now.  The  people  were  glad 
of  an  opportunity  to  hear  a  sermon,  whether  delivered  by  one  of 
their  own  religious  faith  or  not.  Thus  it  was  at  least  with  the 
father  and  mother  of  young  Lincoln,  who  never  failed  to  attend, 
with  their  family,  upon  religious  worship,  whenever  held  within 
reasonable  distance.  They  gladly  received  the  word,  caring  less 
for  the  doctrinal  tenets  of  the  preacher  than  for  the  earnestness  and 
zeal  with  which  he  enforced  practical  godliness.  No  class  of  men 
are  more  deserving  of  admiration  than  those  who  have  been  the 
first  to  carry  the  gospel  to  our  frontier  settlements.  If  ever  men 
have  labored  in  the  cause  of  their  Divine  Master  and  for  the  salva- 
tion of  their  fellow-mortals,  impelled  by  motives  entirely  free  from 
any  dross  of  selfishness,  surely  that  honor  should  be  awarded  to 
them  Many  of  these  early  pioneer  preachers  were  gifted  with  a 
rare  eloquence.  Inspired  always  with  the  grandeur  of  their  theme, 
communing  daily  with  nature  while  on  their  long  and  solitary  jour- 
neyings  from  settlement  to  settlement,  they  seemed  to  be  favored, 
beyond  human  wont,  with  a  very  near  approach  to  the  source  of 
all  inspiration;  and  coming  with  this  preparation  before  an  audi- 
ence of  simple-minded  settlers,  preacher  and  people  freed  from  con- 
ventional restraint,  these  men  almost  always  moved  the  hearts  and 
wrought  upon  the  imagination  of  their  hearers  as  only  those  gifted 
with  the  truest  eloquence  can.  Of  course  the  immediate  result  of 
such  preaching  was  to  awaken  the  religious  element,  rather  than 
to  inform  the  understanding  as  to  doctrines  and  dogmas — to  lead 
to  spiritual  exaltation  and  religious  fervor,  rather  than  to  a  clear 
knowledge  and  appreciation  of  those  points  of  theological  contro- 
versy which  for  so  many  centuries  have  engaged  the  attention  of 
disputatious  divines.  It  is  not  intended  to  decide  which  of  the  two 
methods  is  the  better  calculated  to  evangelize  the  world.  But  as 
to  the  great  value  of  the  preaching  here  spoken  of,  and  its  singular 

21 


adaptation  to  the  people  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  there  can  be 
but  one  opinion.  That  it  exerted  a  marked  influence  upon  the 
character  of  young  Lincoln,  that  it  thoroughly  awakened  the  reli- 
gious element  within  him,  and  that  his  subsequent  life  has  been 
greatly  influenced  by  it,  are  facts  which  the  writer  desires  to  place 
upon  record  for  the  encouragement  of  other  laborers  in  the  same 
field,  and  as  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  further  fact  that  there  can 
be  no  true  and  lasting  greatness  unless  its  foundation  be  laid  in  the 
truths  of  the  Bible. 

^  And  thus  young  Lincoln  grew  to  manhood,  constantly  engaged 
in  the  various  kinds  of  labor  incident  to  the  country  and  the  times 
— felling  the  forest,  clearing  the  ground  of  the  undergrowth  and  of 
logs,  splitting  rails,  pulling  the  cross-cut  and  the  whip-saw,  driving 
the  frower,  plowing,  harrowing,  planting,  hoeing,  harvesting,  assist- 
ing at  house-raisings,  log-rollings  and  com-huskings ;  mingling  cor- 
dially with  the  simple-minded,  honest  people  with  whom  his  lot 
was  cast,  developing  a  kindly  nature,  and  evincing  social  qualities 
which  rendered  his  companionship  desirable;  remarkable  even 
then  for  a  wonderful  gift  of  relating  anecdotes,  and  for  a  talent  of 
interspersing  them  with  acute  and  apt  reflections ;  everywhere  a 
favorite,  always  simple,  genial,  truthful,  and  unpretending,  and 
always  chosen  umpire  on  occasions  calling  for  the  exercise  of  sound 
judgment  and  inflexible  impartiality.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
add  that  he  also  greatly  excelled  in  all  those  homely  feats  of 
strength,  agility,  and  endurance,  practiced  by  frontier  people  in  his 
sphere  of  life.  In  wrestling,  jumping,  running,  throwing  the  maul 
and  pitching  the  crow-bar,  he  always  stood  first  among  those  of  his 
own  age.  As  in  height  he  loomed  above  all  his  associates,  so  in 
these  customary  pastimes  he  as  far  surpassed  his  youthful  competi- 
tors, and  even  when  pitted  against  those  of  maturer  years,  he  was 
almost  always  victorious.  In  such  daily  companionship,  he  grew 
up  in  full  sympathy  with  the  people,  rejoicing  in  their  simple  joys 
and  pleasures,  sorrowing  in  their  trials  and  misfortunes,  and  united 
to  them  all  by  that  bond  of  brotherhood  among  the  honest  poor — 
a  common  heritage  of  labor. 


22 


CHAPTER  IL-REMOVAL  TO  ILLINOIS  IN  1830,  AND 
THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  STATE  IN  THOSE  DAYS. 

ROM  1829  until  the  financial  revulsion  of  1837-40,  a 
vast  flood  of  immigration  poured  into  Illinois.  At  the 
first-named  date,  the  population  of  the  State  was  only 
about  150,000 — a  number  scarcely  equal  to  the  present 
population  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  This  population  was 
confined  mostly  to  the  southern  part  of  the  State.  There  were 
comparatively  few  people  north  of  Alton,  and  these,  as  is  always 
the  case  in  the  settlement  of  a  new  country,  were  scattered  along 
the  rivers  and  smaller  water-courses.  And  even  south  of  Alton, 
in  the  older-settled  portion  of  the  State,  most  of  the  population  still 
clung  either  to  the  water-courses  or  close  to  the  edges  of  the  timber- 
land.  The  large  prairies,  with  the  exception  of  a  narrow  belt 
along  the  fringes  of  timber,  were  wholly  uncultivated  and  without 
population.  Indeed,  at  that  time,  and  for  many  years  after,  it  was 
the  opinion  of  even  the  most  intelligent  people,  that  the  larger 
prairies  of  Illinois  would  never  be  used  for  any  other  purpose  than 
as  a  common  pasturage  for  the  cattle  of  adjacent  settlers.  It  is 
only  of  later  years,  and  since  the  introduction  of  railroads,  that  the 
true  value  and  destiny  of  these  prairies  have  come  to  be  understood 
and  appreciated.  Thus,  in  1829,  only  an  infinitesimal  portion  of 
the  better  part  of  Illinois  was  occupied.  At  the  same  time,  the 
people  of  the  other  States  entertained  very  imperfect  notions  of  the 
character  of  the  country  and  of  its  wonderful  natural  resources. 
The  first  settlement  by  an  indigenous  American  population  had 
been  the  result  of  the  accounts  carried  back  to  the  old  States  by 
the  soldiers  who  accompanied  the  gallant  George  Rogers  Clark  in 
that  memorable  expedition  in  1 778,  which  resulted  in  the  conquest 
of  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  and  Vincennes.  Another  impetus  was 
given  in  the  same  direction  after  the  war  of  1 8 12,  by  similar  reports 
of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  country  taken  back  by  rangers  and 
other  troops  who  had  done  service  in  the  then  territory  of  Illinois. 
But  from  that  time  until  the  year  1829,  the  increase  of  population 
by  immigration  had  been  very  slow.  The  era  of  financial  pros- 
perity which  terminated  in  the  memorable  financial  break-down 
of  1837-40,  gave  another  impulse  to  western  immigration.    The 

23 


Anglo-Saxon  greed  for  land  was  stimulated  to  unusual  activity  by 
the  abundance  of  money,  and  explorers  started  out  in  search  of  new 
and  desirable  countries.  Entering  Illinois  by  the  great  lines  of 
travel— at  Vincennes,  at  Terre  Haute,  at  Paducah,  at  Shawnee- 
town,  and  journeying  westward  and  northward,  these  explorers 
were  struck  with  the  wonderful  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  country, 
and  the  ease  with  which  it  could  be  reduced  to  immediate  cultiva- 
tion. Its  rich,  undulating  prairies,  its  vast  natural  pasturage  for 
cattle,  the  accessibility  to  navigable  water-courses,  the  salubrity 
of  its  climate,  and,  above  all,  its  millions  of  acres  of  government 
land,  conspired  to  render  it  peculiarly  attractive  to  men  who  had 
been  accustomed  all  their  lives  to  mountainous  and  rocky  districts, 
or  to  a  country  covered  with  heavy  forests.  Other  explorers, 
entering  the  State  from  the  direction  of  the  great  Northwestern 
Lakes,  and  traversing  it  southward  and  westward  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, saw  at  every  stage  of  their  journey,  a  country  no  less  fertile 
and  inviting,  the  sylvan  beauty  of  which  no  pen  or  pencil  could 
adequately  portray.  The  reports  spread  by  these  travelers,  on  their 
return  to  the  older  States,  regarding  the  wonderful  region  they  had 
seen,  together  with  occasional  letters  contributed  to  leading  journals 
by  delighted  and  enthusiastic  tourists,  awakened  a  spirit  of  emigra- 
tion the  like  of  which  the  country  had  never  before  witnessed. 
The  stream  of  population  that  set  at  once  Illinoisward  continued, 
from  this  and  other  causes,  to  grow  constantly  broader  and  deeper 
— coming  in  from  the  South,  setting  westward  from  the  belt  of 
Middle  States,  pouring  in  by  way  of  the  Northwestern  Lakes  — 
dotting  every  praii'ie  with  new  homes,  opening  thousands  of  farms, 
making  roads,  building  bridges,  founding  schools,  churches,  vil- 
lages, and  cities — until  the  crash  of  1837  came  suddenly  and  unex- 
pectedly upon  the  country,  putting  an  immediate  and  effectual  check 
upon  the  human  movement. 

^  Among  those  who  heard  the  earliest  reports  concerning  this  land 
of  promise,  were  the  Lincoln  family,  in  their  quiet  home  in  Indiana, 
and  they  resolved  to  try  their  fortunes  in  it.  Accordingly,  on 
the  first  day  of  March,  1830,  Abraham  having  just  completed  his 
twenty-first  year,  his  father  and  family,  together  with  the  families 
of  the  two  daughters  and  sons-in-law  of  his  step-mother,  bidding 
24 


adieu  to  the  old  homestead  in  Indiana,  turned  their  faces  towards 
Dlinois.  In  those  days,  when  people  changed  their  residence  from 
one  State  or  settlement  to  another,  they  took  all  their  movable  pos- 
sessions with  them — their  household  goods,  their  kitchen  utensils, 
including  provisions  for  the  journey,  their  farming  implements,  their 
horses  and  cattle.  The  former  were  loaded  into  wagons  drawn, 
for  the  most  part,  by  oxen,  and  the  latter  were  driven  by  the 
smaller  boys  of  the  family,  who  were  sometimes  assisted  by  their 
sisters  and  mother.  Thus  arranged  for  a  journey  of  weeks, —  not 
unfrequcntly  of  months, — the  emigrant  set  out,  thinking  but  little 
of  the  hardships  before  him— of  bad  roads,  of  unbridged  streams,  of 
disagreeable  weather,  of  sleeping  on  the  ground  or  in  the  wagon,  of 
sickness,  accident,  and,  sometimes,  death,  by  the  way — dwelling 
chiefly  in  thought  upon  the  novelty  and  excitement  of  the  trip,  the 
rumored  attractions  of  the  new  country  whither  he  was  going,  and 
of  the  probable  advantages  likely  to  result  from  the  change.  By 
stages  of  ten  or  fifteen  miles  per  day,  over  untravelcd  roads,  now 
across  mountains,  swamps,  and  water-courses,  and  now  through 
dense,  umbrageous  forests,  and  across  broad  prairies  where  the  hor- 
izon alone  bounded  the  vision,  the  caravan  of  wagons,  men,  women 
and  children,  flocks  and  herds,  toiled  onward  by  day,  sleeping 
under  the  broad  canopy  of  stars  by  night,  patiently  accomplishing 
the  destined  journey,  sometimes  of  weeks' — sometimes  of  months' 
— duration. 

i^It  was  by  this  primitive  and  laborious  method  that  the  Lincoln 
family  made  the  journey  from  Spencer  County,  Indiana,  to  Macon 
County,  Illinois— Abraham  himself  driving  one  of  the  ox-teams. 
He  had  now  arrived  at  manhood,  and  both  by  law  and  by  univer- 
sal custom,  was  at  liberty  to  begin  the  world  for  himself.  But  he 
was  the  only  son  of  his  father,  now  advanced  in  years,  and  it  was 
not  in  his  nature  to  desert  his  aged  sire  at  a  time  when  all  the 
hardships,  privations,  and  toil  of  making  a  new  home  in  a  new 
country,  were  about  to  be  entered  upon.  Whatever  the  future 
may  have  seemed  to  hold  in  it  as  a  reward  for  effort  specially 
directed  to  that  end,  he  cheerfully  put  aside  in  obedience  to  his 
sense  of  duty,  and  engaged  at  once  and  heartily  in  the  work  before 
him.  That  summer's  labor  consisted,  mainly,  in  building  a  log 
d  25 


house,  into  which  the  family  moved,  making  rails  for,  and  fencing 
in  ten  acres  of  prairie,  breaking  the  sod,  and  raising  upon  it  a  crop 
of  com.  This  farm  was  situated  on  the  north  side  of  the  Sanga- 
mon River,  at  the  junction  of  the  timber  land  and  prairie,  and  about 
ten  miles  west  of  Decatur.  The  rails  used  in  fencing  in  the  ten- 
acre  field  are  those  of  which  so  much,  of  late,  has  been  said  in  the 
newspapers.  Their  existence  was  brought  to  the  public  attention 
during  the  sitting  of  the  Republican  State  Convention,  at  Decatur, 
on  the  9th  of  May  last,  on  which  occasion  a  banner  attached  to 
two  of  these  rails,  and  bearing  an  appropriate  inscription,  was 
brought  into  the  assemblage,  and  formally  presented  to  that  body, 
amid  a  scene  of  unparalleled  enthusiasm.  Since  then,  they  have 
been  in  great  demand  in  every  State  of  the  Union  in  which  free 
labor  is  honored,  where  they  have  been  borne  in  processions  of  the 
people,  and  hailed  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  freemen  as  a  sym- 
bol of  triumph,  and  as  a  glorious  vindication  of  freedom,  and  of  the 
rights  and  the  dignity  of  free  labor.  These,  however,  were  far 
from  being  the  first  or  only  rails  made  by  young  Lincoln.  He  was 
a  practiced  hand  at  the  business.  His  first  lesson  had  been  taken 
while  yet  a  boy  in  Indiana.  Some  of  the  rails  made  by  him  in 
that  State  have  been  clearly  identified,  and  are  now  eagerly  sought 
after.  The  writer  has  seen  a  cane,  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  made  since  his  nomination  by  one  of  his  old  Indiana 
acquaintances,  from  one  of  those  rails  split  by  his  own  hands  in 
boyhood. 


CHAPTER  III.-NAVIGATES  THE  MISSISSIPPI,  RUNS 
A  STORE  AND  SERVES  BSf  THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR. 

HOSE  who  have  come  into  Illinois  since  steamboats 
became  numerous  on  the  Western  waters,  and  since  the 
introduction  of  railroads,  and  the  opening  of  the  Illinois 
and  Michigan  Canal,  have  no  correct  idea  how  small  an 
amount  of  business  was  transacted  in  the  State  so  late 
as  1830,  or  of  the  great  commercial  revolution  which  has  taken 
place  since  that  time.  At  the  period  named  there  was  but  little 
inducement  for  growing  surplus  productions.  The  merchants  of 
the  country  did  not  deal  in  com,  wheat,  flour,  beef,  pork,  lard,  but- 
ter, or  any  of  the  great  staples  of  the  State.  Beyond  the  purchase 
of  a  few  furs  and  peltries,  small  quantities  of  feathers,  beeswax,  and 
tallow,  the  merchant  rarely  engaged  in  barter.  The  old  United 
States  Bank  was  then  in  existence,  and  through  it  the  exchanges 
of  the  country  were  conducted  at  a  rate  so  satisfactory  that  no 
Western  merchant  thought  of  shipping  the  products  of  the  country 
to  liquidate  his  Eastern  balances.  He  bought  his  goods  for  cash, 
or  on  credit,  and  collected  his  debts,  if  so  fortunate  as  to  collect  at 
all,  in  the  same  commodity,  and  never  paid  any  of  it  out  again, 
except  for  goods.  The  dependence  of  the  country  for  money  was 
chiefly  upon  that  brought  in  by  new  settlers.  Occasionally  an 
adventurer  appeared  who  paid  out  money  for  sufficient  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  country  to  load  a  flat-boat,  which  he  floated  off  to  find 
a  market.  Sometimes  the  more  enterprising  of  the  farmers,  find- 
ing no  market  at  home  for  the  surplus  of  their  farms,  loaded  a  flat- 
boat  on  their  own  account,  and  by  this  means  some  money  found 
its  way  into  the  country.  Within  the  last  twenty  years  this  order 
of  things  has  entirely  changed,  and  at  the  present  time  every 
description  of  surplus  product  meets  a  ready  cash  market  at  home. 
While  the  old  order  lasted,  however,  the  business  of  shipping  by 
flat-boats  was  maintained  on  all  the  Western  rivers,  though  the 
multiplication  and  competition  of  steamboats  rendered  the  number 
less  every  year.  The  business  itself  was  one  of  exposure,  of  hard 
labor,  and  of  constant  peril.  It  developed  and  nurtured  a  race  of 
men  peculiar  for  courage,  herculean  strength,  hardihood,  and  great 
contempt  of  danger.     Western  annals  abound  in  stories  of  these 

27 


men.  As  a  class  they  have  become  extinct,  and  the  world  will 
never  see  their  like  again;  but  their  memory  remains,  and  will 
constitute  a  part  of  the  country's  history,  and  mingle  with  our 
national  romance  forever.  This  much  it  seemed  necessary  to  say 
for  the  benefit  of  the  uninitiated  reader,  by  way  of  preface  to  some 
account  of  young  Lincoln's  experiences  as  a  flat-boatman.  Going 
back  then  to  the  new  home  on  the  Sangamon  River,  we  take  up 
again  the  thread  of  the  narrative. 

i^The  winter  of  1830-31  is  memorable  to  this  day  among  the  early 
settlers  of  Illinois,  by  reason  of  the  deep  snow  which  fell  about  the 
last  of  December,  and  which  continued  upon  the  ground  for  more 
than  two  months.  It  was  a  season  of  unusual  severity,  both  upon 
the  settlers  and  their  stock.  Many  of  the  latter  perished  from 
exposure  to  the  cold  and  from  hunger,  while  the  former,  especially 
the  more  recently  arrived  of  their  number,  were  often  put  to  great 
straits  to  obtain  provisions.  Of  these  hardships  the  Lincolns  and 
their  immediate  neighbors  had  their  full  share,  and  but  for  Abra- 
ham, whose  vigor  of  constitution  and  remarkable  power  of  endur- 
ance fitted  him  for  long  and  wearisome  journeys  in  search  of 
provisions,  their  sufferings  would  have  been  often  greater. 
J^  Some  time  during  the  winter,  one  of  those  adventurers  previ- 
ously spoken  of — Denton  Offut — engaged  in  buying  a  boat-load 
of  produce  to  ship  in  the  spring,  fell  in  with  young  Lincoln.  Con- 
ceiving a  liking  for  him,  and  having  learned  also  that  he  had  previ- 
ously taken  a  flat-boat  down  the  Mississippi,  Offut  engaged  him, 
together  with  his  step-mother's  son,  John  D.  Johnston,  and  his 
mother's  cousin,  John  Hanks  to  take  a  flat-boat  from  Beardstown, 
on  the  Illinois  River,  to  New  Orleans. 

^  Lincoln's  first  trip  to  New  Orleans  had  been  made  from  the  Ohio 
River,  while  living  in  Indiana,  and  when  he  was  in  the  nineteenth 
year  of  his  age.  On  that  occasion  also  he  was  a  hired  hand  merely, 
and  he  and  the  son  of  the  owner,  without  other  assistance,  made 
the  trip.  A  part  of  the  cargo  had  been  selected  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  wants  of  the  sugar  plantations,  and  the  young  adven- 
turers were  instructed  to  linger  upon  the  sugar  coast  for  the  pur- 
pose of  disposing  of  it.  On  one  occasion  they  tied  up  their  boat 
for  the  night  near  a  plantation  at  which  they  had  been  trading  dur- 

2a 


ing  the  afternoon.  The  negroes  observing  that  the  boat  was  in 
charge  of  but  two  persons,  seven  of  them  formed  a  plan  to  rob  it 
during  the  night.  Their  intention  evidently  was  to  murder  the 
young  men,  rob  the  boat  of  whatever  money  there  might  be  on  it, 
carry  off  such  articles  as  they  could  secrete  in  their  cabins,  and 
then,  by  sinking  the  boat,  destroy  all  traces  of  their  guilt.  They 
had  not,  however,  properly  estimated  the  courage  and  prowess  of 
the  two  young  men  in  charge.  The  latter,  being  on  their  guard, 
gave  the  would-be  robbers  and  assassins  a  warm  reception,  and, 
notwithstanding  the  disparity  in  numbers,  after  a  severe  struggle, 
in  which  both  Lincoln  and  his  companion  were  considerably  hurt, 
the  former  were  driven  from  the  boat.  At  the  close  of  the  fight,  the 
young  navigators  lost  no  time  in  getting  their  boat  again  under  way. 
^  The  trip  in  the  main  was  successful,  and  in  due  time  the  young 
men  returned  to  their  homes  in  Indiana. 

^  Lincoln  and  his  associates  for  a  second  trip,  Johnston  and  Hanks, 
were  to  join  Offut  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  as  soon  as  the  snow  had 
disappeared,  whence  they  were  to  go  with  him  to  Beardstown,  the 
port  of  departure,  for  New  Orleans.  When  the  snow  melted, 
which  was  about  the  first  of  March,  the  whole  country  was  so 
flooded  as  to  render  traveling  impracticable.  This  led  the  party  to 
purchase  a  canoe,  in  which  they  descended  the  Sangamon  River 
to  a  point  within  a  few  miles  of  Springfield.  This  was  the  time 
and  this  the  method  of  Lincoln's  first  entrance  into  Sangamon 
County — a  county  which  was  to  be  the  field  of  his  future  tri- 
umphs, which  was  to  become  proud  of  him  as  her  most  distin- 
guished citizen,  and  which,  in  time,  was  to  be  honored  through 
him  with  being  the  home  of  a  President  of  the  United  States.  On 
arriving  at  Springfield,  they  learned  from  Offut  that,  not  having 
been  able  to  purchase  a  boat  in  Beardstown,  he  had  concluded  to 
build  one  on  the  Sangamon  River.  Lincoln,  Hanks,  and  Johnston 
were  hired  for  that  purpose,  at  twelve  dollars  per  month,  and  going 
into  the  woods,  they  got  out  the  necessary  timber  and  built  a  boat 
at  the  town  of  Sangamon,  near  where  the  Chicago,  Alton,  and  St. 
Louis  Railroad  now  crosses  the  Sangamon  River,  which  they  took 
to  New  Orleans  upon  the  old  contract. 

^  The  writer  has  not  been  put  in  possession  of  any  of  the  incidents 

29 


connected  with  this  trip.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  present  purpose, 
however,  to  know  that  so  well  did  young  Lincoln  bear  himself 
throughout— so  faithful  in  all  the  trusts  reposed  in  him  by  his 
employer;  so  active,  prompt,  and  efficient  in  all  necessary  labor; 
so  cool,  determined,  and  full  of  resources  in  the  presence  of  danger 
—that  before  reaching  New  Orleans,  Offut  had  become  greatly 
attached  to  him,  and  on  their  return  engaged  him  to  take  the  gen- 
eral charge  of  a  store  and  mill  in  the  village  of  New  Salem,  then 
in  Sangamon,  now  in  Menard  Countv. 

■^ In  July,  J 83 1,  Lincoln  was  fairly  installed  in  this  new  business. 
In  those  primitive  times  the  country  merchant  was  a  personage  of 
vast  consequence.  He  was  made  the  repository  of  all  the  news  of 
the  surrounding  settlements,  and  as  he  "  took  the  papers,"  he  was 
able  to  post  his  customers  as  to  the  affairs  of  state  and  the  news  of 
the  world  generally.  His  acquirements  in  this  last  respect  were  as 
astounding  to  the  country  people  as  were  those  of  Goldsmith's  vil- 
lage schoolmaster  to  the  simple  rustics.  His  store  was  a  place  of 
common  resort  for  the  people  on  rainy  days,  and  at  those  periods 
of  the  year  when  farm-work  was  not  pressing,  and  nearly  always 
on  Saturday  afternoons.  There  all  the  topics  of  the  neighborhood 
and  of  the  times  were  discussed,  the  merchant  usually  bearing  the 
leading  part,  and  all  disputed  points  of  past  history  or  of  current 
events  were  always  referred  to  him,  as  the  ultimate  tribunal,  for 
decision.  His  word  and  opinion,  in  these  respects,  were  supreme, 
never  disputed,  and  triumphantly  repeated  by  the  fortunate  first- 
hearers  at  all  casual  meetings  with  neighbors,  and  at  all  the  little 
neighborhood  gatherings  at  which  the  oracle  was  not  present. 
.^  Young  Lincoln's  acquirements  and  natural  gifts  most  admirably 
fitted  him  for  the  distinction  awarded  to  men  engaged  in  his  new 
occupation.  He  had  read  a  few  books,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been 
twice  to  New  Orleans,  and  otherwise  had  observed  a  good  deal  of 
the  world,  treasuring  up  whatever  he  had  seen  faithfully  in  his 
memory.  He  had  an  unfailing  fund  of  anecdote ;  he  was  an  admi- 
rable talker,  sharp,  witty,  good-humored,  and  possessed  also  of  an 
accommodating  spirit  which  always  led  him  to  exert  himself  for 
the  entertainment  of  his  friends,  as  well  as  to  be  ever  ready  to  do 
any  of  them  a  kind  and  neighborly  turn  when  his  assistance  was 
30 


needed.  In  a  very  little  time  he  had  become  the  most  popular  man 
in  the  neighborhood.  His  new  acquaintances  respected  him  for 
his  uprightness,  honored  him  for  his  intelligence,  admired  him  for 
his  genial  and  social  qualities,  and  loved  him  for  that  deep,  earnest 
sympathy  which  he  ever  manifested  for  those  who  were  unfortu- 
nate in  their  enterprises,  or  who  were  overtaken  by  some  great 
sorrow.  How  much  they  confided  in  him,  honored  and  loved  him, 
will  be  seen  a  little  further  on. 

1^  Early  in  the  following  spring  (1832)  the  Black  Hawk  war  broke 
out  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State.  The  previous  year  a 
part  of  the  tribes  of  the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians  had  recrossed  the 
Mississippi  from  its  western  bank,  and  taken  possession  of  their 
old  town  on  Rock  River,  a  few  miles  above  its  mouth,  and  about 
four  miles  from  where  the  city  of  Rock  Island  is  now  situated. 
The  Indian  title  to  the  lands  in  that  vicinity  had  been  extinguished 
by  a  treaty  made  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Sac  and  Fox  Nations  at 
St.  Louis,  in  1804,  which  treaty  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  a 
portion  of  the  tribes  in  1 81 5,  and  by  another  portion  in  1 81 6. 
Black  Hawk  always  denied  the  validity  of  these  treaties,  and,  in 
fact,  of  all  the  treaties  made  by  his  people  with  the  whites.  In  the 
war  of  1 8 12,  he  had  co-operated  with  the  British  army,  and  had 
conceived  an  unconquerable  hatred  of  the  Americans.  The  lands 
on  which  the  great  town  of  his  nation  was  situated  had  recently 
been  surveyed  and  brought  into  market,  and  a  number  of  white 
settlers  had  gone  upon  them.  This  aroused  the  enmity  of  the  old 
chieftain,  and  taking  with  him  his  women  and  children,  and  as 
many  warriors  as  he  could  inspire  with  the  same  feeling,  he 
returned  to  his  former  haunts,  took  possession  of  the  ancient 
metropolis  of  his  people,  ordered  the  white  settlers  away,  killed  their 
stock,  unroofed  their  houses,  pulled  down  their  fences,  and  cut  up 
their  growing  grain.  News  of  these  outrages  reaching  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds, at  his  request  Gen.  Gaines  proceeded  at  once  to  Rock  Island. 
Becoming  convinced  that  Black  Hawk  meditated  war  on  the  set- 
tlers. Gen.  Gaines  called  upon  Gov.  Reynolds  for  a  small  force  of 
mounted  volunteers.  These  were  soon  in  the  field,  and  in  a  short 
time,  together  with  a  few  regular  troops,  appeared  before  Black 
Hawk's  town.     The  latter,  with  his  women  and  children  and 

3J 


fighting  men,  retreated  across  the  Mississippi  without  firing  a  gun ; 
the  volunteers  destroyed  the  town,  and  encamped  upon  the  Missis- 
sippi, on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Rock  Island.  Black  Hawk, 
anticipating  that  the  troops  would  follow  him  to  the  west  side  of 
the  river,  came  into  Fort  Armstrong  and  sued  for  peace.  A  treaty 
was  then  made  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  Black  Hawk's  peo- 
ple should  remain  forever  after  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  never 
to  recross  it  without  permission  of  the  President  of  the  United  States 
or  the  Governor  of  Illinois.  This  treaty  proved  to  be  but  an  Indian 
stratagem.  Black  Hawk's  sole  object  in  making  it  was  to  gain 
time  in  order  to  perfect  his  preparations.  He  was  fully  bent  upon 
war,  and  early  in  the  following  spring  he  recrossed  the  Mississippi, 
in  force,  moving  up  the  valley  of  the  Rock  River  to  the  country  of 
the  Pottawattomies  and  the  Winnebagoes,  whom  he  hoped  to 
make  his  allies. 

^  As  soon  as  apprized  of  these  facts.  Gov.  Reynolds  issued  a  call 
for  four  regiments  of  volunteers.  Among  the  earliest  in  his  neigh- 
borhood to  enroll  himself  for  this  service  was  young  Lincoln.  A 
company  was  formed  in  New  Salem,  and  to  his  own  great  sur- 
prise, though  doubtless  not  to  the  surprise  of  anyone  else,  Lin- 
coln was  chosen  captain.  This  was  the  first  evidence  he  had  ever 
received  of  popularity  among  his  acquaintances,  and  he  has  often 
said,  later  in  life  and  since  he  has  won  the  distinction  of  a  leading 
man  in  the  nation,  that  no  other  success  ever  gave  him  so  much 
unalloyed  satisfaction.  The  volunteers  rendezvoused  at  Beards- 
town.  Here  Lincoln's  company  joined  its  regiment,  and  after  a 
few  days  of  rapid  marching  the  scene  of  conflict  was  reached.  It 
is  not  the  intention  to  give  an  account  of  this  war.  It  was  of  short 
duration.  Black  Hawk  took  the  field  early  in  April.  In  the  last 
days  of  the  following  July  the  decisive  battle  of  the  Bad  Axe  was 
fought,  which  put  an  end  to  the  war;  and  a  few  days  thereafter 
Black  Hawk,  and  his  principal  braves  who  had  escaped  the  bullet 
and  the  bayonet,  were  prisoners  of  war  at  Fort  Armstrong,  on 
Rock  Island.  But  short  as  it  was,  the  Indians  showed  themselves 
to  be  courageous,  desperate,  and  merciless.  Their  war  parties 
traversed  the  whole  country  from  Rock  Island  to  the  neighborhood 
of  Chicago,  and  from  the  Illinois  River  into  the  territory  of  Wiscon- 
32 


sin ;  they  occupied  every  grove,  waylaid  every  road,  hung  around 
every  settlement,  picked  off  many  of  the  settlers  without  regard  to 
age,  sex,  or  condition,  and  attacked  every  small  party  of  white 
men  that  attempted  to  penetrate  the  country. 

.^  The  first  levy  of  volunteers  was  called  out  for  but  thirty  days. 
At  the  end  of  that  time  they  were  disbanded  at  Ottawa  without 
having  seen  the  enemy. 

iS^  When  the  troops  were  disbanded,  most  of  them  returned  home. 
Lincoln,  however,  had  gone  out  for  the  war,  and,  a  new  levy  being 
called  for,  he  again  volunteered  and  served  as  a  private.  A  second 
time  his  regiment  was  disbanded,  and  again  he  volunteered.  When 
his  third  term  of  service  had  expired  the  war  was  about  concluded, 
and  he  returned  home.  Having  lost  his  horse,  near  where  the 
town  of  Janesville,  Wisconsin,  now  stands,  he  went  down  Rock 
River  to  Dixon  in  a  canoe.  Thence  he  crossed  the  country  on  foot 
to  Peoria,  where  he  again  took  canoe  to  a  point  on  the  Illinois 
River  within  forty  miles  of  home.  The  latter  distance  he  accom- 
plished on  foot,  having  been  in  active  service  nearly  three  months. 
We  have  been  told  by  men  who  were  with  Lincoln  during  this 
campaign,  that  he  was  always  prompt  and  energetic  in  the  per- 
formance of  duty,  never  shrinking  from  danger  or  hardships ;  that 
he  was  a  universal  favorite,  the  best  talker,  the  best  story-teller, 
and  the  best  at  a  wrestling-match  or  a  foot-race  in  the  whole  army. 
He  still  owns  the  land  in  Iowa  on  which  his  own  warrants  for  this 
service  were  located. 


CHAPTER   IV.  — BECOMES    SUCCESSIVELY   A    MER- 
CHANT, SURVEYOR,  LEGISLATOR  AND  LAWYER. 

RIOR  to  the  adoption  of  the  present  constitution  of  Illi- 
nois, in  J  847,  elections  for  State  officers  and  Members 
of  the  Legislature  were  held  on  the  first  Monday  in 
August — for  the  former  once  in  four  years,  for  the  latter 
once  in  every  two  years.  Lincoln's  return  to  New  Salem 
was,  therefore,  but  a  few  days  before  the  election  of  that  year  for 
Members  of  the  Legislature.  The  system  of  nominating  candidates 
for  office  by  county  and  State  conventions  had  not  then  been  intro- 
duced into  Illinois.  Indeed,  party  lines  and  party  designations 
were  at  that  time  scarcely  known  in  the  State.  There  were  "  Clay 
Men,"  "Jackson  Men,"  "Adams  Men,"  "Crawford  Men,"  and  so 
on,  but  no  clearly  defined  party  creeds  around  which  men  of  simi- 
lar views  rallied  to  make  common  cause  against  those  holding 
opposite  opinions.  Men  announced  themselves  as  candidates  for 
the  various  elective  offices.  It  was  a  very  rare  circumstance  that 
a  contest  for  an  office  was  narrowed  down  to  two  candidates. 
More  frequently  a  half  dozen  eager  aspirants  contested  the  prize. 
■^  The  county  of  Sangamon  was  entitled  to  four  members  in  the 
lower  branch  of  the  Legislature,  and  there  were  at  the  time  of  Lin- 
coln's return,  more  than  twice  that  number  of  candidates.  Among 
the  number  were  some  of  the  ablest,  best  known,  and  most  popular 
men  of  the  county,  of  whom  may  be  mentioned  John  T.  Stuart, 
afterwards  Representative  in  Congress,  Col.  E.  D.  Taylor,  Peter 
Cartwright,  the  famous  eccentric  Methodist  preacher,  and  others  of 
considerable  note.  These  gentlemen  had  been  in  the  field  some 
time  before  the  return  of  Lincoln — had  canvassed  the  county  thor- 
oughly, defining  their  position  on  local  and  other  questions,  and 
obtaining  promises  of  support. 

.?» Lincoln  had  no  sooner  returned  than  he  was  urgently  besought 
by  his  friends  at  New  Salem  to  enter  the  lists  for  the  Legislature 
against  this  array  of  strong  men  and  old  citizens.  These  entreat- 
ies, continued  from  day  to  day,  together  with  the  cordial  reception 
he  had  just  received  at  the  hands  of  all  his  old  acquaintances, 
induced  him,  against  his  better  judgment,  to  give  a  reluctant  assent, 
knowing  very  well  that,  under  the  circumstances,  his  election  was 
34 


entirely  out  of  the  question.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  county 
was  a  large  one ;  that  he  had  lived  in  it  only  from  July  to  the  fol- 
lowing April ;  that  he  had  but  few  acquaintances  outside  of  the  pre- 
cinct of  New  Salem ;  and  that  the  election  was  so  near  at  hand  as 
to  deprive  him  of  the  opportunity  of  visiting  other  portions  of  the 
county,  and  making  himself  known  to  the  people.  Nevertheless, 
when  the  election  came  off,  he  was  but  a  few  votes  behind  the  suc- 
cessful candidates.  His  own  precinct — New  Salem — gave  him 
277  votes  in  a  poll  of  284 ;  and  this  too  in  face  of  his  avowed  pref- 
erences for  Mr.  Clay,  and  notwithstanding  the  same  precinct  at  the 
Presidential  election,  three  months  later,  gave  a  majority  of  115  for 
General  Jackson.  The  result  of  this  election,  though  practically  a 
defeat,  was,  all  circumstances  considered,  a  most  brilliant  triumph, 
clearly  presaging  success  in  any  future  trial  he  might  make.  And 
never  since  that  day  has  Mr.  Lincoln  been  beaten  in  any  direct 
vote  of  the  people. 

J^  Having  received  such  generous  treatment  at  the  hands  of  his 
New  Salem  friends,  Mr.  Lincoln  resolved  to  make  the  place  his 
permanent  home.  He  was  wholly  without  means,  and  at  a  loss 
as  to  what  he  should  try  to  do.  At  one  time  he  had  almost  con- 
cluded to  learn  the  trade  of  a  blacksmith.  Those  who  discerned 
in  the  young  man  qualities  which  he  had  not  yet  suspected  himself 
to  be  the  possessor  of,  urged  him  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  profes- 
sion of  law ;  but  he  always  met  suggestions  of  this  character  with 
objections  based  upon  his  lack  of  education.  While  yet  in  a  quan- 
dary as  to  the  future,  he  was  very  unexpectedly  met  with  a  proposi- 
tion to  purchase  on  credit,  in  connection  with  another  man  as  poor 
himself,  an  old  stock  of  goods.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  forth 
with  he  was  installed  at  the  head  of  a  village  store.  It  is  needless 
to  recount  the  difficulties  which  beset  him  as  a  merchant.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  after  a  manly  struggle  with  certain  adverse  cir- 
cumstances for  which  he  was  not  responsible,  he  relinquished  the 
business,  finding  himself  encumbered  with  debt — which  he  after- 
wards paid  to  the  last  farthing.  While  engaged  in  this  business 
he  received  the  appointment  of  post-master  of  New  Salem — the 
profits  of  the  office  being  too  insignificant  to  make  his  politics  an 
objection. 

35 


•^  Again  thrown  out  of  employment,  Mr.  Lincoln  now  turned  his 
attention  more  than  ever  to  books.  He  read  everything  that  fell 
in  his  way;  he  kept  himself  well  posted  in  national  politics;  he 
accustomed  himself  to  write  out  his  views  on  various  topics  of  gen- 
eral interest,  though  not  for  the  public  eye ;  and  realizing  in  these 
exercises  the  importance  of  a  correct  knowledge  of  English  Gram- 
mar, he  took  up  that  study  for  the  first  time.  About  this  period  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  John  Calhoun,  then  living  in  Springfield, 
and  afterwards  notorious  for  his  efforts  to  maintain  Democratic 
supremacy  in  Kansas,  and  as  President  of  the  Lecompton  Consti- 
tutional Convention.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  then  County  Surveyor  for 
Sangamon  county.  The  great  influx  of  immigrants  before  spoken 
of,  and  the  consequent  active  entry  of  the  government  lands,  gave 
him  more  business  in  the  way  of  establishing  comers,  and  tracing 
boundary  lines,  than  he  could  well  attend  to.  Conceiving  a  liking 
for  Mr.  Lincoln,  Calhoun  offered  to  depute  to  him  that  portion  of 
the  work  contiguous  to  New  Salem.  Lincoln  had  no  knowledge 
of  surveying,  or  of  the  science  on  which  it  is  based ;  but  he  was 
now  too  much  absorbed  by  a  desire  for  improvement  to  decline  a 
position  which,  while  securing  a  livelihood,  would  enable  him  to 
increase  his  acquirements.  He  accepted  the  kind  proffer  of  Mr. 
Calhoun,  contrived  to  procure  a  compass  and  chain,  set  himself 
down  to  the  study  of  Flint  and  Gibson,  and  in  a  very  short  time 
took  the  field  as  a  surveyor.  Mr.  Lincoln  never  forgot  or  ceased 
to  be  grateful  for  this  kindness.  Although  he  and  Mr.  Calhoun 
were  ever  afterwards  political  opponents,  he  always  treated  him 
fairly,  placed  the  most  charitable  construction  possible  upon  his 
actions,  and  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  do  a  kindly  act  either  for 
him  or  his  family. 

i^In  the  summer  of  1834,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  again  a  candidate  for 
the  Legislature.  He  had  now  become  acquainted  with  the  people 
throughout  the  county ;  and  although  they  had  not  seen  enough  of 
him  to  have  learned  to  appreciate  him  quite  as  highly  as  the  people 
of  New  Salem  precinct,  nevertheless  he  was  this  time  elected  by 
an  overwhelming  majority,  and  by  the  largest  vote  cast  for  any 
candidate.  Up  to  this  period,  and,  indeed,  for  the  two  years  after, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  aware  that  he  possessed  any  faculty  for  pub- 
36 


lie  speaking.  His  acquaintances  knew  him  to  be  an  admirable 
talker,  full  of  original  thought,  a  close  reasoner,  united  to  a  match- 
less gift  of  illustration ;  and  from  their  eager  desire  to  get  him  into 
the  Legislature,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  they  believed  he 
would  there  develop  into  a  forcible  and  ready  debater.  Whatever 
they  had  known  him  to  undertake  he  had  done  well;  and  they 
therefore  had  faith  in  his  success,  should  he  enter  this  new  and 
untried  field  of  effort.  In  one  of  his  memorable  debates  with 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  in  1858,  the  latter,  in  alluding  to  the  early 
experiences  in  life,  as  well  as  to  the  later  efforts  of  his  opponent, 
said: — "Lincoln  is  one  of  those  peculiar  men  ivho  perform  'with 
admirable  skill  everything  they  undertake."  Douglas  had  known 
and  watched  him  closely  for  a  quarter  of  a  century — watched  him 
not  as  an  admirer  and  friend,  but  as  a  political  opponent  whom  he 
always  dreaded  to  encounter,  and  whose  failure  in  anything  would 
have  given  him  sincere  gratification, — and  this  was  the  conclusion 
to  which  he  had  been  forced  to  come  contrary  to  his  wishes.  To 
be  able  to  rise  with  the  occasion,  and  to  never  fall  below  it,  is  one  of 
the  surest  marks  of  genius ;  and  we  have  the  authority  of  the  man, 
who,  of  all  men  in  the  world,  is  the  least  likely  to  be  biased  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  favor,  for  saying  that  he  has  never  failed  to  come  up  to 
this  standard.  The  trait  of  character  to  which  Mr.  Douglas  thus 
bore  reluctant  testimony,  had  been  early  remarked  by  Lincoln's 
friends.  It  was  not  wonderful,  therefore,  that  they  had  implicit 
faith  in  him— that,  although  young  and  wholly  inexperienced  in 
legislation,  they  cheerfully  confided  their  [interests  to  his  keeping, 
for  in  his  past  life  they  had  the  strongest  possible  guarantee  that  in 
this  new  sphere  he  would  make  himself  "  master  of  the  situation," 
and  fully  equal  to  all  of  its  duties. 

.^But  in  the  session  of  1834-5,  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  attempt  to 
make  a  speech.  He  was  faithful  in  his  attendance,  watchful  of  the 
interests  of  his  constituents,  acquired  the  confidence  of  his  fellow- 
members  as  a  man  of  sound  judgment  and  patriotic  purposes,  and 
in  this  manner  he  wielded  a  greater  influence  in  shaping  and  con- 
trolling legislation  than  many  of  the  noisy  declaimers  and  most 
frequent  speakers  of  the  body.  His  constituents  were  satisfied — 
so  well  satisfied,  indeed,  that  they  re-elected  him  in  1836,  again  in 

37 


J  838,  and  again  in  1840,  and  would  have  continued  electing  him, 
had  he  desired  it ;  but  by  this  time,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  his 
circumstances  and  position  were  greatly  changed,  and  there  were 
higher  duties  before  him. 

■^During  the  canvass  for  the  Legislature,  in  1834,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  thrown  considerably  into  the  company  of  Hon.  John  T.  Stu- 
art, of  Springfield,  then  a  candidate  for  re-election.  The  latter 
gentleman,  with  his  accustomed  penetration,  was  not  long  in  dis- 
covering in  his  retiring  and  unassuming  companion  powers  of 
mind  which,  if  properly  developed,  could  not  fail  to  confer  distinc- 
tion upon  their  possessor.  To  Lincoln's  great  surprise,  Mr.  Stuart 
warmly  urged  him  to  study  law.  Mr.  Stuart  was  a  gentleman  of 
education,  an  able  lawyer,  and  in  every  respect  one  of  the  foremost 
men  of  the  State.  Advice  of  this  character,  tendered  by  one  so 
competent  to  give  it,  could  not  be  otherwise  than  gratifying  to  a 
young  man  as  yet  unknown  to  fame  outside  of  New  Salem  pre- 
cinct, and  being  accompanied  by  a  generous  offer  to  loan  him 
whatever  books  he  might  need,  Lincoln  resolved  to  follow  it.  As 
soon  as  the  election  was  over,  he  took  home  with  him  a  few  books 
from  the  law  library  of  Mr.  Stuart,  and  entered  upon  their  study 
in  his  usually  earnest  way.  When  the  Legislature  met,  in  the 
following  December,  the  law  books  were  laid  aside,  but  were 
resumed  again  immediately  after  the  adjournment.  In  the  autumn 
of  1 836,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  on  the  1 5th  day 
of  the  following  April,  having  formed  a  copartnership  with  his  old 
friend  Stuart,  he  removed  to  Springfield,  and  entered  upon  his  pro- 
fessional career. 

•^  During  all  this  time— that  is,  from  his  acceptance  of  the  post  of 
deputy-surveyor  under  Calhoun  until  he  removed  to  Springfield,  in 
1837 — he  supported  himself  by  occasional  jobs  of  surveying.  Of 
course  he  was  compelled  to  live  as  cheaply  as  possible,  to  dress,  as 
he  had  always  done  before  and  always  has  done  since,  in  plain, 
simple  garb,  and  to  study  at  night  by  the  light  of  the  fire — candles 
being  a  luxury  he  could  not  then  afford.  Yet  he  was  always  buoy- 
ant, enjoyed  life,  and  never  once  fancied  that  his  condition  was 
otherwise  than  an  enviable  one.  His  most  severe  annoyances  grew 
out  of  his  rare  gifts  as  a  talker.  His  friends  ivould  come  to  see 
38 


him  and  to  hear  him  talk,  and  whenever  a  stranger  sojourned  for 
a  day  or  more  in  New  Salem,  these  friends  could  not  forego  the 
gratification  of  showing  off  the  fine  points  of  the  village  favorite. 
Apropos  to  incidents  of  this  character,  is  the  following,  related  by 
Hon.  Richard  Yates,  the  distinguished  Republican  candidate  for 
Governor  of  Illinois,  in  a  speech  delivered  at  Springfield,  on  the  7th 
of  June  last,  to  a  meeting  composed  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  old  friends 
and  neighbors,  many  of  whom  had  known  him  intimately  at  the 
time  referred  to.    Said  Mr.  Yates : 

"  I  recollect  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  Old  Abe,  and  I  have  a  great  mind  to  tell  you,  though  I 
don't  know  that  I  ought  to.  (*  Yes,  go  on  —  go  on.')  It  was  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago.  ( A  voice,  *  He  was  "  Young  A'oe  "  then.' )  I  was  down  at  Salem  with  a  friend,  who 
remarked  to  me  one  day,  '  111  go  over  and  introduce  you  to  a  fine  young  fellow  we  have  here 
—  a  smart,  genial,  active  young  fellow,  and  Tue  'II  be  certain  to  ha've  a  good  talk. '  I  con- 
sented, and  he  took  me  down  to  a  collection  of  four  or  five  houses,  and,  looking  over  the  w^y,  I 
saw^  a  young  man  partly  lying  or  resting  on  a  cellar  door,  intently  engaged  in  reading.  My 
friend  took  me  up  and  introduced  me  to  young  Lincoln,  and  I  tell  you,  as  he  rose  up,  I  would  not 
have  shot  at  him  then  for  a  President.  (Laughter.)  Well,  after  some  pleasant  conversation  — 
for  Lincoln  talked  then  just  as  he  does  new  —  we  all  went  up  to  dinner.  You  know  we  all 
lived  in  a  very  plain  way  in  those  times.  The  house  was  a  rough  log  house,  with  a  puncheon 
floor  and  clapboard  roof,  and  might  have  been  built,  like  Solomon's  Temple,  'without  the 
sound  of  hammer  or  nail,'  for  there  was  no  iron  in  it.  (Laughter.)  The  old  lady,  whose  house 
it  was,  soon  provided  us  with  a  dinner,  the  principal  ingredient  of  which  was  a  great  bov/l  of 
milk,  which  she  handed  to  each.  Somehow  in  serving  Lincoln  there  was  a  mistake  made,  and 
his  bowl  tipped  up,  and  the  bowl  and  milk  rolled  over  the  floor.  The  good  old  lady  was  in 
deep  distress,  and  exclaimed,  *  Oh  dear  me  I  that's  all  my  fault.'  Lincoln  picked  up  the  bowl 
in  the  best  natured  way  in  the  world,  remarking  to  her,  'Aunt  Lizzy,  we'll  not  discuss  whose 
fault  it  was;  only  if  it  don't  worry  you,  it  don't  worry  me.'  (Laughter  and  applause.)  The 
old  lady  was  comforted,  and  gave  him  another  bowl  of  milk.     (Renewed  laughter.) 

"  My  friend  Green,  who  introduced  me  to  Lincoln,  told  me  the  first  time  he  ever  saw  him  he 
w^as  in  the  Sangamon  River,  with  his  pants  rolled  up  some  five  feet,  more  or  less  (great  merri- 
ment), trying  to  pilot  a  flat-boat  over  a  mill-dam.  The  boat  had  got  so  full  of  water  that  it  was 
very  difficult  to  manage,  and  almost  impossible  to  get  it  over  the  dam.  Lincoln  finally  con- 
trived to  get  her  prow  over  so  that  it  projected  a  few  feet,  and  there  it  stood.  But  he  then 
invented  a  ne:^  way  of  bailing  a  flat-boat.  He  bored  a  hole  through  the  bottom  to  let  the  water 
run  out,  and  then  corked  her  up,  and  she  launched  right  over.  (Great  laughter.)  I  think  the 
captain  who  proved  himself  so  fitted  to  navigate  the  broad-horn  over  the  dam,  is  no  doubt  the 
man  who  is  to  stand  upon  the  deck  of  the  old  ship,  '  The  Constitution,'  and  guide  her  safely 
over  the  billows  and  breakers  that  surround  her."     (Enthusiastic  and  prolonged  applause.) 

■^  It  has  been  already  stated  that  Lincoln  was  a  luorking  member 
of  the  Legislature  at  the  session  of  1834-5,  but  did  not  attempt  the 
role  of  a  speaker.  The  convention  system  had  been  introduced 
into  Illinois  by  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  in  1834;  and  about  that  time 
the  opponents  of  the  administration  began  calling  themselves 
"Whigs,"  and  laying  the  foundation  of  a  party  organization. 

39 


Party  spirit  soon  began  to  run  high,  and  political  discussions 
between  leading  men  of  the  two  parties  were  of  frequent  occur- 
rence. Lincoln's  first  speech  was  made  during  the  canvass  for  the 
Legislature  in  1836.  The  candidates  had  met  at  Springfield  by 
appointment  for  the  purpose  of  a  public  discussion.  A  large  con- 
course of  citizens  had  assembled  in  the  court-house  to  listen  to  the 
speeches.  Ninian  W.  Edwards,  then  a  Whig,  led  off.  He  was 
followed  by  Dr.  Early,  who  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  effec- 
tive debaters  on  the  Democratic  side  in  the  State.  Early  was 
severe  upon  Edwards,  and  the  latter  was  desirous  of  making  an 
immediate  rejoinder.  But  Early's  speech  had  aroused  Lincoln. 
His  name  was  the  next  on  the  program,  and  telling  Edwards  to  be 
patient,  he  arose  to  reply.  Although  embarrassed  at  the  begin- 
ning, his  exordium  gave  indications  of  what  was  to  come.  He 
began  in  that  slow  and  deliberate  manner  which  is  still  one  of  his 
marked  characteristics  as  a  speaker,  succinctly  and  lucidly  stating 
the  principles  of  the  two  parties,  carefully  laying  down  his  prem- 
ises, and  weaving  a  network  of  facts  and  deductions  around  his 
adversary,  from  which  escape  was  utterly  impossible.  Li  less  than 
five  minutes  all  traces  of  embarrassment  had  disappeared.  As  he 
warmed  with  his  subject,  his  tall  form  grew  proudly  erect,  his  gray 
eye  burning  and  flashing  with  an  intensity  never  witnessed  before, 
and  all  his  features  in  full  play — now  mantling  with  humor,  as 
some  well-aimed  shaft  of  ridicule  penetrated  and  disclosed  a  weak 
place  in  his  opponent's  argument,  and  now  glowing  with  an  hon- 
est indignation,  as  he  laid  bare  the  sophisms  and  misrepresenta- 
tions with  which  it  abounded.  When  he  sat  down,  his  reputation 
was  made.  Not  only  had  he  achieved  a  signal  victory  over  the 
acknowledged  champion  of  Democracy,  but  he  had  placed  him- 
self, by  a  single  effort,  in  the  very  front  rank  of  able  and  eloquent 
debaters.  The  surprise  of  his  audience  was  only  equalled  by  their 
enthusiasm;  and  of  all  the  surprised  people  on  that  memorable 
occasion,  perhaps  no  one  was  more  profoundly  astonished  than 
Lincoln  himself.  In  the  election  which  followed.  Early  was 
defeated,  and  with  him  every  Democratic  candidate  on  the  ticket 
—a  result  to  which  Lincoln's  masterly  efforts  before  the  people 
largely  contributed. 
40 


^  In  the  following  December,  Lincoln  took  his  seat  a  second  time 
in  the  Legislature.  It  is  proper  to  state  here  that  Illinois,  until  of 
late  years,  has  always  been  strongly  Democratic.  It  gave  its  elec- 
toral vote  to  Jackson  in  1832,  to  Van  Buren  in  1836  and  in  1840, 
to  Polk  in  1844,  to  Cass  in  1848,  and  to  Pierce  in  1852.  During 
these  twenty  years,  with  the  exception  of  a  part  of  Gov.  Duncan's 
term,  who  was  elected  as  a  Jackson  man,  but  identified  himself 
with  the  Whig  party  before  the  close  of  his  administration,  all  the 
State  offices  and  the  State  Legislature  were  in  the  possession  of  the 
Democratic  party.  The  whole  responsibility  of  the  State  govern- 
ment devolved  upon  that  party.  The  Whigs  in  the  Legislature,  as 
a  party,  had  no  power  to  inaugurate  a  policy  of  their  own.  Their 
hands  were  effectually  tied.  The  most  they  could  do  was,  in  cases 
in  which  their  opponents  differed  among  themselves  on  questions 
of  policy,  to  throw  their  votes  on  the  side  that  seemed  to  them  the 
least  mischievous.  Such  was  the  condition  of  things  when  Mr. 
Lincoln  entered  the  Legislature  in  1 834.  It  had  not  altered  in  any 
respect  when  he  took  his  seat  a  second  time  in  that  body  in  1836, 
nor  indeed  at  any  subsequent  period  while  he  remained  a  member 
of  it.  During  the  session  of  J  836-37,  he  was  recognized  from  the 
start  as  a  leader  of  his  party  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  and  made 
such  a  reputation  for  himself  in  that  capacity,  that  both  in  1838 
and  1840,  he  received  the  unanimous  vote  of  his  party  friends  for 
speaker. 

.^The  details  of  State  legislation  afford  but  few  matters  of  interest 
to  the  general  reader,  and  for  that  reason  it  is  not  proposed  to  fol- 
low Mr.  Lincoln  through  this  portion  of  his  career.  It  is  enough 
to  say  on  this  head,  that  he  was  always  watchful  of  the  public 
interests,  labored  zealously  and  with  great  efficiency  for  whatever 
he  believed  would  promote  the  welfare  of  the  State,  and  opposed 
with  untiring  energy  every  measure  that  he  thought  would  have 
an  opposite  tendency.  He  entered  the  body  in  1834,  the  youngest 
member  in  it,  with  a  fame  that  had  not  extended  beyond  the  limits 
of  his  own  county ;  distrustful  of  himself  by  reason  of  his  lack  of 
education ;  inexperienced  in  legislation ;  and  having  no  knowledge 
of  the  arts  and  chicanery  with  which  he  would  have  to  contend. 
He  left  it  in  1840,  by  common  consent  the  ablest  man  in  it;  the 
f  4J 


recognized  leader  of  his  party  in  the  House  and  in  the  State ;  his 
name  familiar  as  a  household  word  from  Cairo  to  Galena,  and 
from  the  Wabash  to  the  Mississippi ;  and  with  a  reputation  for  hon- 
esty and  integrity  which  not  even  the  bitterest  of  his  political  oppo- 
nents had  the  hardihood  to  asperse. 


CHAPTER  V.-TAKES  UP  THE  LEGAL  PROFESSION 
AND  TWICE  RUNS  FOR  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTOR. 

N  retiring  from  the  Legislature  it  was  the  intention  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  devote  himself  exclusively  to  the  labors 
of  his  profession.  His  own  convictions  on  the  questions 
which  divided  parties  were  deeply-rooted  and  immov- 
able. His  party  in  the  State  was  in  a  hopeless  minor- 
ity. There  seemed  but  small  opportunity  for  a  man  of  his  views 
to  succeed  in  politics,  while  the  qualities  that  he  had  by  this  time 
developed  insured  both  an  honorable  fame  and  a  lucrative  income 
in  his  profession.  To  this  he  now  turned  with  all  the  earnestness 
of  his  nature,  and  with  a  firm  resolve  to  win  laurels  in  it  worth  the 
wearing.  But  he  was  not  permitted  long  to  give  his  exclusive 
attention  to  professional  pursuits.  The  ground-swell  of  that  politi- 
cal revolution  which  in  1 840  carried  the  Whig  party  into  power  in 
the  national  government,  had  no  sooner  been  felt,  than  there  was  a 
universal  desire  awakened  among  the  Whigs  of  Illinois  to  make 
one  more  effort  to  carry  the  State  over  to  the  Whig  column.  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  assigned  a  place  on  the  Electoral  ticket— a  position 
which  he  accepted  with  reluctance,  but  which  he  filled  with  great 
zeal  and  ability.  In  that  memorable  canvass  he  repeatedly  met 
Mr.  Douglas  on  the  stump;  and  it  is  no  disparagement  to  that 
gentleman  to  say,  that  then,  as  in  later  years,  Mr.  Lincoln  proved 
himself  to  be  immeasurably  his  superior — superior  in  logic,  in 
argument,  in  resources  as  a  debater,  in  broad  and  comprehensive 
views  of  national  policy,  in  fairness  and  in  gentlemanly  courtesy 
towards  his  competitor. 

^  After  the  election  of  that  year,  Mr.  Lincoln  returned  to  his  pro- 
fessional duties.  He  had  now  obtained  a  reputation  at  the  bar 
which  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  the  many  able  and  profound 
jurists  of  the  State.  His  services  were  eagerly  sought  in  almost 
every  case  of  importance ;  and  perhaps  no  lawyer  in  Illinois  or  any 
other  State  has  been  more  uniformly  successful  in  the  cases  which 
he  has  undertaken.  It  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as 
a  lawyer,  that  he  holds  himself  bound  in  honor  and  in  conscience, 
having  accepted  a  fee,  to  thoroughly  master  the  case  of  his  client. 
In  this  regard  he  is  noted  among  his  professional  brethren  for  the 

43 


greatness  of  his  labors.  He  not  only  studies  the  side  of  his  client, 
but  that  of  his  opponent  also.  Consequently  he  is  never  taken 
unawares,  but  has  ample  resources  for  whatever  turn  the  inge- 
nuity, skill,  or  learning  of  opposing  counsel  may  give  to  the  case. 
To  this  peculiarity,  in  part,  is  owing  the  well-known  fact  that 
whenever  Mr.  Lincoln  is  employed  in  connection  with  other  emi- 
nent counsel,  before  the  conclusion  of  the  case  the  sole  manage- 
ment of  it  is  almost  invariably  surrendered  to  him.  Not  by  any 
ostentatious  thrusting  of  himself  forward  is  this  position  obtained, 
for  nothing  could  be  more  foreign  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  manner,  either 
at  the  bar  or  elsewhere ;  but  proving  himself  to  be  more  completely 
master  of  the  case  than  his  associates,  the  latter  voluntarily  award 
the  position  to  him,  and  even  insist  upon  his  taking  it.  Another 
peculiarity  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  lawyer,  is  the  fact  that  he  is  ever 
ready  to  give  his  assistance  gratuitously  to  a  poor  client  who  has 
justice  and  right  on  his  side.  He  has  managed  many  such  cases 
from  considerations  of  a  purely  benevolent  character,  which  he 
would  not  have  undertaken  for  a  fee.  More  than  this,  in  cases  of 
peculiar  hardship,  he  has  been  known,  again  and  again,  after 
throwing  all  of  his  power  and  ability  as  a  lawyer  into  the  manage- 
ment of  the  case,  without  charge,  or  any  other  reward  than  the 
gratification  of  a  noble  nature,  on  bidding  his  client  adieu,  and 
when  receiving  his  cordial  thanks  and  the  warm  grasp  of  his  hand, 
to  slip  into  his  palm  a  five  or  a  ten  dollar  bill,  bidding  him  to  say 
nothing  about  it,  but  to  take  heart  and  be  hopeful.  Those  who 
know  him  intimately  will  not  be  surprised  at  this  relation,  because 
it  harmonizes  well  with  his  whole  character ;  but  so  careful  has  he 
always  been  to  conceal  his  charitable  deeds  that  the  knowledge  of 
such  actions  on  his  part  is  confined  to  those  who  have  come  into 
possession  of  it  without  his  agency. 

i^In  November,  1842,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  Todd,  daughter  of  Hon.  Robert  S.  Todd,  of  Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky.  The  fruits  of  this  union  are  three  sons  now  living, 
and  one  dead.  The  eldest,  now  in  his  seventeenth  year,  is  a  stu- 
dent at  Exeter  Academy,  New  Hampshire,  preparatory  to  entering 
Harvard  University.  The  other  sons  are  intelligent,  promising 
lads.  Mrs.  Lincoln  is  a  ladv  of  charming  presence,  of  superior 
44 


intelligence,  of  accomplished  manners,  and,  in  every  respect  well 
fitted  to  adorn  the  position  in  which  the  election  of  her  husband  to 
the  Presidency  will  place  her.  The  courtesies  and  hospitalities  of 
the  White  House  have  never  been  more  appropriately  and  grace- 
fully dispensed  than  they  will  be  during  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Lincoln. 

■^  From  the  retirement  of  his  professional  avocations,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  again  called  by  his  party  to  perform  the  labors  of  an  elector 
for  the  State  at  large  in  the  canvass  of  1844.  He  entered  upon  the 
duties  with  his  accustomed  zeal,  and  with  even  more  than  his 
accustomed  ability.  John  Calhoun  (of  Kansas  notoriety),  then 
regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  debaters  on  the  Democratic  side  in  the 
State,  was  an  elector  at  large  on  the  ticket  of  his  party.  The 
meetings  between  these  gentlemen  in  different  parts  of  the  State 
will  not  soon  be  forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed  them.  Calhoun 
exerted  himself  as  he  had  never  done  before.  Not  even  Douglas, 
in  his  palmiest  days,  ever  bore  aloft  the  Democratic  standard  more 
gallantly,  or  brought  more  strength  of  intellect  to  the  defense  of  its 
principles.  But  it  was  only  the  endeavor  of  a  pigmy  against  an 
intellectual  giant.  His  arguments  were  torn  to  tatters  by  Lincoln, 
his  premises  were  left  without  foundation,  and  he  had  only  the  one 
course  of  the  demagogue  left— to  raise  the  party  cry,  and  to  urge 
the  faithful  to  a  union  of  effort.  The  issues  of  that  day  made  the 
discussion  of  the  tariff  a  prominent  part  of  every  political  speech.  It 
is  believed  by  the  most  intelligent  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  hearers,  that  the 
doctrine  of  tariff  for  the  protection  of  home  industry  has  never 
received,  in  this  country,  a  more  exhaustive  exposition,  and  a  more 
triumphant  vindication  than  in  his  speeches  during  that  canvass. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  newspaper  enterprise  of  Illinois,  at  that 
day,  did  not  embrace  among  its  objects  verbatim  reports  of  public 
speeches  There  is  no  trace  of  these  efforts  of  Mr.  Lincoln  remain- 
ing, save  in  the  recollection  of  those  who  were  present  at  their 
delivery. 

^  Before  the  close  of  the  campaign,  Mr.  Lincoln  accepted  the  earn- 
est and  oft-repeated  invitation  of  leading  Whigs  in  Indiana  to  visit 
that  State.  The  result  of  the  August  election  had  demonstrated 
that  Mr.  Clay  could  not  carry  Illinois,  while  Indiana  was  consid- 

45 


reed  debatable  ground.  The  efforts  of  Mr.  Lincoln— continu- 
ing through  several  weeks,  and  until  the  day  of  election— gave 
unbounded  satisfaction  to  his  political  friends  in  Indiana,  thousands 
of  whom  flocked  to  hear  him  at  every  appointment. 


CHAPTER  VL-IS  ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS  AND 
TAKES  DECISIVE  POSITION  ON  THE  MEXICAN  WAR. 

n  1846  Mr.  Lincoln  received  the  unanimous  nomination  for 
Congress  by  the  Whig  Convention  for  the  Springfield  Dis- 
trict. In  1844  the  district  had  given  a  majority  of  914  to  Mr. 
Clay,  and  the  Democracy  expected,  in  the  Congressional 
election  of  1846,  to  greatly  lessen,  if  not  entirely  overcome, 
this  majority.  With  the  hope  of  securing  the  latter  result,  they 
put  in  nomination  Rev.  Peter  Cartwright,  the  famous  Methodist 
preacher,  a  man  of  great  popularity  with  the  people  generally,  and 
especially  popular  with  his  own  denomination,  which  embraced  a 
very  large  and  influential  portion  of  the  population  of  the  district. 
Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  in  the  principal  towns  in  the  district,  on  the 
political  issues  of  the  day.  His  opponent  did  not  meet  him  in  dis- 
cussion, but  chose  his  own  peculiar  way  of  electioneering.  The 
canvass  resulted  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  by  a  majority  of 
1,5  n, — a  majority  unprecedented  in  the  district,  and  conclusive  as 
to  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  immediate  neighbors. 
^  Mr.  Lincoln  took  his  seat  in  the  National  House  of  Representa- 
tives on  the  7th  of  December,  1847— the  beginning  of  the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  Thirtieth  Congress.  He  met  there  such  men  as  John 
Quincy  Adams,  George  Ashmun,  Jacob  Collamer,  John  M.  Botts, 
Washington  Hunt,  J.  R.  Ingersoll,  T.  Butler  King,  Henry  W.  Hil- 
liard,  George  P.  Marsh,  Charles  S.  Morehead,  Merideth  P.  Gen- 
try, James  Pollock,  Caleb  B.  Smith,  Truman  Smith,  Robert  C. 
Schenck,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  John  B.  Thompson,  Robert 
Toombs,  Samuel  F.  Vinton,  and  other  prominent  Whig  leaders ; 
and  although  a  new  man  in  Congress,  and  comparatively  young, 
he  at  once  took  a  prominent  position  among  this  brilliant  array  of 
distinguished  men.  Throughout  his  Congressional  career,  his 
record  is  that  of  a  consistent  Whig.  On  all  the  issues  that  divided 
parties  which  were  brought  before  Congress  for  action,  his  name 
will  be  found  recorded  on  the  same  side  on  which  Clay  and  Web- 
ster had  so  often  before  recorded  theirs. 

.^A  great  deal  has  been  said  by  his  political  opponents  in  regard 
to  his  action  on  the  subject  of  the  Mexican  War ;  and  in  the  can- 
vass of  1858  with  Mr.  Douglas,  that  gentleman  and  his  newspa- 

47 


per  organs  made  a  very  disingenuous  but  characteristic  attempt  to 
fasten  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  a  charge  of  having  voted  against  supplies 
for  the  American  army  in  Mexico.  The  charge  was  without 
foundation  in  fact,  and  utterly  untrue  in  every  particular. 
i^When  Mr.  Lincoln  took  his  seat  in  Congress,  Gen.  Scott  had 
been  nearly  three  months  in  possession  of  the  city  of  Mexico.  All 
the  great  battles  of  that  war  had  been  fought,  and  the  negotiations 
which  resulted  in  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo  on  the  2d  of 
February,  1848,  had  progressed  very  far  towards  a  favorable  con- 
clusion. The  American  army,  however,  was  still  in  Mexico ;  and 
various  supply  measures,  resolutions  of  thanks,  acts  for  extra  pay, 
and  for  the  relief  of  the  widows  and  orphans  of  officers  and  soldiers 
who  had  fallen  in  the  war,  were  brought  before  the  Thirtieth  Con- 
gress, and  passed.  Mr.  Lincoln  voted  in  favor  of  every  measure 
of  this  kind  which  came  before  Congress,  A  careful  examination 
of  the  Journals  and  the  Congressional  Globe  discloses  the  fact  that 
fourteen  Acts  and  eight  Joint  Resolutions  of  the  character  referred 
to,  were  passed  by  this  Congress.  Of  these,  three  Acts  and  two 
Joint  Resolutions  were  passed  under  a  call  for  the  Ayes  and  Nays ; 
the  remainder  without.  We  have  the  assurance  of  those  who 
served  in  Congress  with  Mr.  Lincoln— both  his  political  friends 
and  opponents— that  he  voted  in  favor  of  all  the  latter;  while  as 
to  the  former,  the  House  Journal  contains  the  proof. 
^The  first  of  these  Acts  which  passed  the  House  by  Ayes  and 
Nays,  will  be  found  in  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  page  215,  chap.  23, 
being  '*An  act  further  to  supply  deficiencies  in  the  Appropriations 
for  the  Service  of  the  Fiscal  Year  ending  the  thirtieth  of  June,  eigh- 
teen hundred  and  forty-eight;"  and  it  appropriates,  among  other 
items,  various  sums  distinctly  for  the  benefit  of  volunteers  in  the 
Mexican  War,  amounting  to  $7,508,939  74.  Mr.  Lincoln's  name 
is  recorded  in  the  affirmative.  (See  House  Journal,  1st  Sess.  30th 
Congress,  pages  520-1.) 

i^The  next  Act  will  be  found  in  the  Statutes  at  Large,  page  217, 
chap.  26,  being  "An  Act  to  authorize  a  loan  not  to  exceed  the  sum 
of  sixteen  millions  of  dollars."  This  act  was  passed  to  provide 
money  to  meet  appropriations  in  general,  including  those  of  the 
Mexican  War,  and  would  not  have  been  necessary  but  for  that 
48 


war.  Mr.  Lincoln's  name  stands  recorded  in  the  affirmative.  (See 
House  Journal,  pages  426-7.) 

^  The  last  Act  of  this  character  passed  by  Ayes  and  Nays,  will 
be  found  in  Statutes  at  Large,  page  247,  chap.  104,  being  "An  Act 
to  amend  an  Act,  entitled  'An  Act  supplemental  to  An  Act  entitled 
An  Act  providing  for  the  prosecution  of  the  existing  war  between 
the  United  States  and  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  and  for  other  pur- 
poses.' "  This  Act,  among  other  things,  provided  for  giving  three 
months'  extra  pay  to  officers,  non-commissioned  officers  musicians 
and  privates,  engaged  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  to  their  relations, 
in  case  of  their  dying  in  the  service.  Mr.  Lincoln's  name  is 
recorded  in  favor  of  this  Act.  (See  House  Journal,  page  768.) 
•^  The  two  Joint  Resolutions  spoken  of  will  be  found  in  Statutes  at 
Large,  pages  333  and  334.  They  were  expressive  of  the  thanks 
of  Congress  to  Major-General  Winfield  Scott  and  Major-General 
Zachary  Taylor,  and  to  the  troops  under  their  command  respec- 
tively, for  their  distinguished  gallantry  and  good  conduct  in  the 
Mexican  campaign  of  J  847.  Mr.  Lincoln's  name  is  recorded  in 
favor  of  both  resolutions.  (See  House  Journal,  pages  365-6.) 
^  These  are  the  only  instances  that  occurred  while  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  in  Congress  in  which  supplies,  extra  pay,  or  thanks  were  voted 
or  proposed,  under  a  call  of  the  Ayes  and  Nays,  for  the  American 
Army  in  Mexico ;  and  in  each  case  he  is  recorded  in  the  affirm- 
ative. 

■^  Mr.  Lincoln  held,  in  common  with  the  entire  Whig  party  of  that 
day,  that  the  war  with  Mexico  was  unnecessarily  and  unconstitu- 
tionally begun ;  and  all  who  desire  to  know  the  reasons  on  which 
the  Whig  party  based  this  opinion,  will  find  them  most  ably  set 
forth  in  a  speech  delivered  in  Congress  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  Jan.  12, 
J  848 ;  and  which  may  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Congres- 
sional Globe,  1st  session,  30th  Congress,  beginning  at  page  93. 
Previous  to  the  delivery  of  that  speech,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  intention- 
ally refrained  from  taking  exceptions  publicly  to  what  he  honestly 
believed  to  be  the  unjustifiable  conduct  of  President  Polk  in  pre- 
cipitating the  country  into  a  war  with  Mexico.  The  following 
extract  from  the  speech  contains  the  reasons  which,  in  his  judg- 
ment, demanded  a  departure  from  this  line  of  policy : 

g  49 


"When  the  war  began,  it  was  my  opinion  that  all  those  who,  because  of  knowing  too  IHtte, 
or  because  of  knowing  too  much,  could  not  conscientiously  approve  the  conduct  of  the  President 
(in  the  beginning  of  it),  should,  nevertheless,  as  good  citizens  and  patriots,  remain  silent  on  that 
point,  at  least  till  the  war  should  be  ended.  Some  leading  Democrats,  including  ex-President 
Van  Buren,  have  taken  this  same  view,  as  I  understand  them  i  and  I  adhered  to  it,  and  acted 
upon  it,  until  since  I  took  my  seat  here,  and  I  think  I  should  still  adhere  to  it,  were  it  not  that 
the  President  and  his  friends  will  not  allow  it  to  be  so.  Besides  the  continual  effort  of  the  Pres- 
ident to  argue  every  silent  vote  given  for  supplies  into  an  indorsement  of  the  justice  and  wisdom 
of  his  conduct  i  besides  that  singularly  candid  paragraph  in  his  late  message,  in  which  he  tells 
us  that  Congress,  with  great  unanimity  (only  two  in  the  Senate  and  fourteen  in  the  House  dis- 
senting) had  declared  that  'by  the  act  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico  a  state  of  war  exists  between 
that  Government  and  the  United  States,'  when  the  same  journals  that  informed  him  of  this,  also 
informed  fiim  that,  when  that  declaration  stood  disconnected  from  the  question  of  supplies, 
sixty-seven  in  the  House,  and  not  fourteen,  merely,  voted  against  it  i  besides  this  open  attempt 
to  prove  by  telling  the  truth,  what  he  could  not  prove  by  telling  the  'whole  truth, —  demanding 
of  all  who  will  not  submit  to  be  misrepresented,  in  justice  to  themselves,  to  speak  out  t  besides 
all  this,  one  of  my  colleagues  (Mr.  Richardson),  at  a  very  early  day  in  the  session,  brought  in 
a  set  of  resolutions,  expressly  indorsing  the  original  justice  of  the  war  on  the  part  of  the  Presi- 
dent. Upon  these  resolutions  when  they  shall  be  put  on  their  passage,  I  shall  be  compelled  to 
vote )  so  that  I  cannot  be  silent  if  I  would." 

i^As  before  observed,  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  stand  alone  in  holding 
these  views.  They  were  held  substantially  by  the  entire  Whig 
party,  both  at  the  North  and  the  South ;  as  well  as  by  Mr.  Cal- 
houn and  those  Southern  men  who  at  that  time  had  adopted  his 
peculiar  political  opinions.  The  following,  from  the  House  Jour- 
nal, 1st  session,  30th  Congress,  pages  183-4  (January  3d,  J 848), 
shows  the  position  of  the  Whig  party  on  the  subject : 

" In  pursuance  of  previotjs  notice,  Mr.  John  W.  Houston  asked,  and  obtained  leave,  and  intro- 
duced a  joint  resolution  of  thanks  to  Major-General  Taylor;  and  which  was  read  a  first  and 
second  time )  when 

"Mr.  Schenck  moved  tfiat  the  said  resolution  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs. 

"  Mr.  Henly  moved  to  amend  the  said  motion  of  Mr.  Schenck  by  adding  thereto  the  follow- 
ing :  With  instructions  to  insert  in  said  resolution  the  following :  '  Engaged  as  they  'were,  in 
defending  the  rights  and  honor  of  the  country.' 

Mr.  Ashmun  moved  to  amend  the  said  proposed  instructions  by  adding  at  the  end  of  the 
same :  '  In  a  'war  unnecessarily  and  unconstitutiotudly  begun  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States.' 

"And  the  question  was  put,  Will  the  House  agree  to  the  amendment  offered  by  Mr.  Ashmun? 

"And  decided  in  the  affirmative  —  Yeas  82)  Nays  81. 

The  yeas  and  nays  being  desired  by  one-fifth  of  the  members  present. 

"  Those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  are : 

"Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams,  George  Ashmun,  Daniel  M.  Barringer,  Washington  Barrow, 
Hiram  Belcher,  John  M.  Botts,  Jasper  E.  Brady,  Aylett  Buckner,  Richard  S.  Canby,  Thomas 
L.  Cllngman,  William  M.  Cocke,  Jacob  Collamer,  Harmon  S.  Conger,  Robert  B.  Cranston, 
John  Crowell,  John  H.  Crozier,  John  Dickey,  James  Dixon,  Richard  S.  Donnell,  William  Duer, 
Daniel  EHmcan,  Gamett  Duncan,  George  G.  Dunn,  George  N.  Eckert,  Thomas  O.  Edwards, 
Alexander  Evans,  Nathan  Evans,  David  Fisher,  Andrew  S.  Fulton,  John  Gayle,  Meredith  P. 
Gentry,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  William  M.  Goggin,  Joseph  Grinnell,  Artemas  Hale,  Nathan  K. 

50 


Hall,  James  G.  Hampton,  William  T.  Haskell,  William  Henry,  John  W.  Houston,  Samuel  D. 
Hubbard,  Charles  Hudson,  Alexander  Irvin,  Orlando  Kellogg,  T.  Butler  King,  Daniel  P.  King, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  Abraham  R.  Mcllvane,  George  P.  Marsh,  Dudley  Marvin,  Joseph  Mullin, 
Henry  Nes,  William  A.  Newell,  William  B.  Preston,  Harvey  Putnam,  Gideon  Reynolds, 
Julius  Rockwell,  John  A.  Rockwell,  Joseph  M.  Root,  David  Rumsey,  Jr.,  Daniel  B.  St.  John, 
Robert  C.  Schenck,  Augustine  H.  Shepperd,  Kliakim  Sherrill,  John  L  Slingerland,  Caleb  B. 
Smith,  Truman  Smith,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Andrew  Stewart,  John  Strohm,  Peter  H.  Syl- 
vester, Bannon  G.  Thibodeaux,  John  L.  Taylor,  Patrick  W.  Tompkins,  Richard  W.  Thomp- 
son, John  B.  Thompson,  Robert  Toombs,  Amos  Tuck,  John  Van  Dyke,  Samuel  F.  Vinton, 
Cornelius  Warren,  lames  Wilson." 

^  It  will  be  seen,  by  inspection  of  the  foregoing  names,  that  some 
of  the  most  distinguished  leaders  of  the  Democracy  of  the  present 
day  voted  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  It  will  also  be  seen  that,  while  the 
resolution  censured  the  President  for  the  manner  in  which  he 
began  the  war,  it  also  conveyed  the  thanks  of  Congress  to  the  offi- 
cers and  soldiers  of  the  American  army,  for  their  gallant  defense  of 
the  rights  and  honor  of  the  country. 

•j^  Mr.  Lincoln's  reasons  for  the  opinion  expressed  by  this  vote,  as 
subsequently  stated  in  his  speech  on  the  war,  were,  briefly,  that  the 
President  had  sent  Gen.  Taylor  into  an  inhabited  part  of  the  country 
belonging  to  Mexico,  and  thereby  had  provoked  the  first  act  of  hos- 
tility ;  that  the  place  at  which  these  hostilities  were  provoked,  being 
the  country  bordering  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande,  was  in- 
habited by  native  Mexicans,  bom  there  under  the  Mexican  govern- 
ment, and  had  never  submitted  to,  nor  been  conquered  by,  Texas 
or  the  United  States,  nor  transferred  to  either  by  treaty;  that 
although  Texas  claimed  the  Rio  Grande  as  her  boundary,  Mexico 
had  never  recognized  it,  the  people  on  the  ground  had  never  recog- 
nized it,  and  neither  Texas  nor  the  United  States  had  ever  enforced 
it;  that  there  was  a  broad  desert  between  that  and  the  country 
over  which  Texas  had  actual  control ;  that  the  country  where  hos- 
tilities commenced,  having  once  belonged  to  Mexico,  must  remain 
so,  until  it  was  somehow  legally  transferred,  which  had  never  been 
done.  Mr.  Lincoln  thought  the  act  of  sending  an  armed  force 
among  the  Mexicans  was  unnecessaty,  inasmuch  as  Mexico  was 
in  no  way  molesting  or  menacing  the  United  States  or  the  people 
thereof,  and  that  it  was  unconstitutional,  because  the  power  of 
levying  war  was  vested  in  Congress,  and  not  in  the  President.  He 
thought  the  principal  motive  for  the  act  was  to  divert  public  atten- 
tion from  the  surrender  by  the  Democratic  party,  of  "Fifty-four 

51 


forty,  or  fight,"  to  Great  Britain,  on  the  Oregon  boundary  question. 
He  also,  doubtless,  believed  that  it  was  an  intentional  bid  of  the 
Democratic  party  for  Southern  support,  inasmuch  as  the  conquest 
of  all  or  any  portion  of  Mexico  would  be  hailed  by  the  South  as 
an  assurance  of  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  an  increase  of  the 
political  power,  in  the  federal  government,  of  the  slaveholding 
interest. 

.^The  adoption  of  Ashmun's  amendment  was  not  the  first  occa- 
sion the  Whig  party,  through  its  representatives  in  Congress,  had 
condemned  the  act  of  the  President  in  involving  the  country  in  a 
war  with  Mexico.  On  the  Uth  of  May,  1846,  as  will  be  seen  by 
reference  to  the  House  Journal,  pp.  792-3,  the  following  action  was 
had: 

"On  motion  to  amend  a  bill  for  an  act  providing  for  the  prosecution  of  the  existing  war 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  by  inserting  the  following  preamble : 

" '  Whereas,  by  the  act  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  a  state  of  war  exists  between  tliat  govern- 
ment and  the  United  States  — ' 

"  It  was  decided  in  the  affirmative  —  yeas  J  23,  noes  67." 

^  The  Northern  Whigs  voted  solidly  in  the  negative,  as  well  as 
the  following  Southern  members : 

"  Daniel  M.  Barringer  (N.  C),  Thomas  H.  Bayly  (Va.),  Henry  Bedinger  (Va.),  Armistei 
Burt  (S.  C),  John  H.  Crozier  (Tenn.),  Garrett  Davis,  (Ky.),  Alfred  Dockery  (N.  C),  Henry 
Grider  (Ky.),  Henry  W.  Hilliard  (Ala.),  Isaac  E.  Holmes  (S.  C),  John  W.  Houston  (Del.), 
Edmund  W.  Hubard  (Va.),  Robert  T.  M.  Hunter  (Va.),  T.  Butler  King  (Ga.),  John  H.  Mc- 
Henry  (Ky.),  John  S.  Pendleton  (Va.),  R.  BamweU  Rhett  (S.  C),  James  A.  Seddon  (Va), 
Alexander  D.  Sims  (S.  C),  Richard  F.  Simpson  (S.  C),  Alexander  H.  Stephens  (Ga.),  Robert 
Toombs  (Ga.),  Joseph  A.  Woodward  (S.  C.),  William  L.  Yancey  (Ala.)." 

^  It  will  be  seen  that  the  above  list  includes  a  number  of  the  most 
prominent  of  the  leaders  of  modem  Democracy.  Like  Mr.  Lincoln, 
they  believed  the  war  to  have  been  "  unnecessarily  and  unconsti- 
tutionally begun ; "  but  like  him,  they  also  discriminated  between 
the  honor  of  the  country  and  the  gallant  services  of  the  American 
troops  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  act  of  the  President  on  the  other. 
This  point  was  brought  out  very  clearly  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  a 
speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  July  27th,  1848, 
of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

"  The  declaration  that  we  have  always  opposed  the  war  b  true  or  false  accordingly  as  we 
may  understand  the  term,  'opposing  the  war.'  If  to  say,  'the  war  was  unnecessarily  and 
unconstitutionally  commeaced  by  the  President,'  be  opposing  the  war,  then  the  Whigs  have 

52 


very  generally  opposed  it.  Whenever  they  have  spoken  at  all  they  have  said  this  and  they  have 
said  it  on  what  has  appeared  good  reason  to  them.  The  marching  an  army  into  the  midst  of  a 
peaceful  Mexican  settlement,  frightening  the  inhabitants  away,  leaving  their  growing  crops  and 
other  property  to  destruction,  to  you  may  appear  a  perfectly  amiable,  peaceful,  unprovoked  pro- 
ceeding ;  but  it  does  not  appear  so  to  vs.  So  to  call  such  an  act,  to  us  appears  no  other  than  a 
naked,  impudent  absurdity,  and  we  speak  of  it  accordingly.  But  if,  when  the  war  had  begun, 
and  had  become  the  cause  of  the  country,  the  giving  of  our  money  and  our  blood,  in  common 
with  yours,  was  support  of  the  war,  then  it  is  not  true  that  we  have  always  opposed  the  war. 
With  few  individual  exceptions,  you  have  constantly  had  our  votes  here  for  all  the  necessary 
supplies.  And,  more  than  this,  you  have  had  the  services,  the  blood,  and  the  lives  of  our  politi- 
cal brethren  in  every  trial,  and  on  every  field.  The  beardless  boy  and  the  mature  man  —  the 
humble  and  the  distinguished  —  you  have  had  them.  Through  suffering  and  death  —  by  dis- 
ease and  in  battle  —  they  have  endured,  and  fought,  and  fallen  ^th  you.  Clay  and  Webster 
each  gave  a  son,  never  to  be  returned.  From  the  State  of  my  own  residence,  besides  other  wor- 
thy but  less-known  Whig  names,  we  sent  Marshall,  Morrison,  Baker,  and  Hardin :  they  all 
fought  and  one  fell ;  and  in  the  fall  of  that  one  we  lost  our  best  Whig  man.  Nor  were  the 
Whigs  few  in  number,  or  laggard  in  the  day  of  danger.  In  that  fearful,  bloody,  breathless 
struggle  at  Buena  Vista,  where  each  man's  hard  task  was  to  beat  back  five  foes,  or  die  himself, 
of  the  five  liigh  officers  who  perished,  four  were  Whigs. 

"  In  speaking  of  this,  I  mean  no  odious  comparison  bet-ween  the  lion-hearted  Whigs  and  Dem- 
ocrats who  fought  there.  On  other  occasions,  and  among  the  lower  officers  and  privates  on  ihat 
occasion,  I  doubt  not  the  proportion  was  different.  I  Tvish  to  do  justice  to  all.  I  think  of  all 
those  brave  men  as  Americans,  in  whose  proud  fame,  as  an  American,  I  too  have  a  share. 
Many  of  them,  Whigs  and  Democrats,  are  my  constituents  and  personal  friends ;  and  I  thank 
them  —  more  than  thank  them  —  one  and  all,  for  the  high,  imperishable  honor  they  have  con- 
ferred on  our  common  State. 

"  But  the  distinction  between  the  cause  of  the  President  in  beginning  the  war,  and  the  cause 
of  the  country  after  it  was  begun,  is  a  distinction  which  you  cannot  perceive.  To  you  the  Pres- 
ident and  the  country  seem  to  be  all  one.  You  are  interested  to  see  no  distinction  between  them, 
and  I  venture  to  suggest  that  possibly  your  interest  blinds  you  a  little.  We  see  the  distinction, 
as  we  think,  clearly  enough,  and  our  friends  who  have  fought  in  the  war,  have  no  difficulty  in 
seeing  it  also.  What  those  who  have  fallen  would  say,  were  they  alive  and  here,  of  course  we 
can  never  know ;  but  with  those  who  have  returned  there  is  no  difficulty.  Colonel  Haskell  and 
Major  Gaines,  members  here,  both  fought  in  the  war,  and  one  of  them  underwent  extraordinary 
perils  and  hardships ;  and  they,  Uke  all  other  Whigs  here,  vote  on  the  record  that  the  war  was 
unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally  commenced  by  the  President.  And  even  General  Taylor 
himself,  the  noblest  Roman  of  them  all,  has  declared  that,  as  a  citizen,  and  particularly  as  a 
soldier,  it  is  sufficient  for  him  to  know  that  his  country  is  at  war  with  a  foreign  nation,  to  do  ail 
in  his  power  to  bring  it  to  a  speedy  and  honorable  termination  by  the  most  vigorous  and  ener- 
getic operations,  without  inquiring  about  its  justice,  or  anything  else  connected  with  it." 

.^The  Thirtieth  Congress  was  made  famous  by  the  introduction 
and  discussion  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  Mr.  Lincoln  supported  this 
measure  from  first  to  last,  being  then  as  now,  uncompromisingly 
opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery  into  free  territory.  He  is  also 
on  record  in  favor  of  the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors,  and 
the  appropriation  of  public  lands  in  aid  of  great  and  important  pub- 
lic improvements.  The  subject  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia was  also  before  the  Thirtieth  Congress.  Mr.  Lincoln  prepared 
and  submitted  a  bill  embodying  his  views  on  that  subject,  which  is 

53 


here  presented  to  the  reader.  The  bill  is  entitled,  "A  Bill  to 
abolish  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  by  consent  of  the  free 
white  people  of  said  District,  and  with  compensation  to  owners," 
and  may  be  found  in  the  Congressional  Globe,  vol.  20,  page  212, 
as  follows : 

"  Sec  U  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  And  House  of  Representathies  of  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled.  That  no  person  not  now  -withm  the  District  of  Columbia  nor  now  owned 
by  any  person  or  persons  now  resident  within  it,  nor  hereafter  bom  within  it,  shall  ever  be  held 
in  slavery  within  said  District. 

"  §  2.  That  no  person  now  within  said  District,  or  now  owned  by  any  person  or  persons  now 
resident  within  the  same,  or  hereafter  bom  within  it,  shall  ever  be  held  in  slavery  without  the 
limits  of  said  District :  Provided,  That  officers  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  being 
citizens  of  the  slaveholding  States,  coming  into  said  District  on  public  business,  and  remaining 
only  so  long  as  may  be  reasonably  necessary  for  that  object,  may  be  attended  into  and  out  of 
said  District,  and  while  there,  by  the  necessary  servants  of  themselves  and  their  families,  with- 
out their  right  to  hold  such  servants  in  service  being  thereby  impaired. 

"  §  3.  That  all  children  bom  of  slave  mothers,  within  said  District,  on  or  after  the  first  day  of 
January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty,  shall  be  free ;  but  shall 
be  reasonably  supported  and  educated  by  the  respective  owners  of  their  mothers,  or  by  their  heirs 
or  representatives,  and  shall  owe  reasonable  service,  as  apprentices,  to  such  owners,  heirs  and 

representatives,  until  they  respectively  arrive  at  the  age  of  years,  when  they  shall  be 

entirely  free.  And  the  municipal  authorities  of  Washington  and  Georgetown,  within  their 
respective  jurisdictional  limits,  are  hereby  empowered  and  required  to  make  all  suitable  and 
necessary  provisions  for  enforcing  obedience  to  this  section,  on  the  part  of  both  masters  and 
apprentices. 

"  S  4.  That  all  persons  now  within  said  District  lawfully  held  as  slaves,  or  now  owned  by 
any  person  or  persons  now  resident  within  said  District,  shall  remain  such  at  the  will  of  their 
respective  owners,  their  heirs  and  legal  representatives :  Provided,  That  any  such  owner,  or  his 
legal  representatives,  may  at  any  time  receive  from  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  the  full 
value  of  his  or  her  slave  of  the  class  in  this  section  mentioned ;  upon  which  such  slave  shall  be 
forthwith  and  forever  free :  And  provided  further.  That  the  President  of  the  United  States,  the 
Secretary  of  State,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  shall  be  a  board  for  determining  the  value 
of  such  slaves  as  their  owners  may  desire  to  emancipate  under  this  section,  and  whose  duty  it 
shall  be  to  hold  a  session  for  the  purpose  on  the  first  Monday  of  each  calendar  month ;  to  receive 
all  applications,  and,  on  satisfactory  evidence  in  each  case  that  the  person  presented  for  valuation 
is  a  slave,  and  of  the  class  in  this  section  mentioned,  and  is  owned  by  the  applicant,  shall  value 
such  slave  at  his  or  her  full  cash  value,  and  give  to  the  applicant  an  order  on  the  treasury  for 
the  amount,  and  also  to  such  slaves  a  certificate  of  freedom. 

"  ^  5.  That  the  municipal  authorities  of  Washington  and  Georgetown  within  their  respective 
jurisdictional  limits,  are  hereby  empowered  and  required  to  provide  active  and  efficient  means 
to  arrest  and  deliver  up  to  their  owners  all  fugitive  slaves  escaping  into  said  District. 

"  §  6.  That  the  election  officers  w^ithin  said  District  of  Columbia  are  hereby  empowered  and 
required  to  open  polls  at  all  the  usual  places  of  holding  elections  on  the  first  Monday  of  April 
next,  and  receive  the  vote  of  every  free  white  male  citizen  above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
having  resided  within  said  District  for  the  period  of  one  year  or  more  next  preceding  the  time 
of  such  voting  for  or  against  this  act,  to  proceed  in  taking  said  votes  in  all  respects  not  herein 
specified,  as  at  elections  under  the  municipal  laws,  and  with  as  little  delay  as  possible  to  trans- 
mit correct  statements  of  the  votes  so  cast  to  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  and  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  the  President  to  canvass  said  votes  immediately,  and  if  a  majority  of  them  be  found 
to  be  for  this  act,  to  forthwith  issue  his  proclamation  giving  notice  of  the  fact  i  and  this  act  shall 
only  be  in  full  force  and  effect  on  and  after  the  day  of  such  proclamation. 

54 


**  §  7.  That  involuntary  servitude  for  the  punishment  of  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have 
been  duly  convicted,  shall  in  nowise  be  prohibited  by  this  act- 

"  S  8.  That  for  all  the  purposes  of  this  act,  the  jurisdictional  limits  of  Washington  are  extended 
to  all  parts  of  the  District  of  Columbia  not  now  included  within  the  present  limits  of  Georgetown." 

•^  In  submitting  this  proposition,  Mr  Lincoln  stated  that  it  had  the 
approval  of  a  number  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  District.  Among 
them,  it  is  understood,  were  Messrs.  Gales  and  Seaton,  of  the 
National  Intelligencer,  the  latter  of  whom  was  then  Mayor  of  the 
city  of  Washington. 

•^  These  views  were  not  new  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  As  early  as  in 
1837,  while  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature,  he  had  given  them 
expression  in  the  following  protest  which  was  entered  on  the 
House  Journal : 

"March  3d,  J 837. 
"  The  following  protest  was  presented  to  the  House,  which  was  read  and  ordered  to  be  spread 
on  the  journals,  to  wit : 

"  Resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery  having  passed  both  fjranches  of  the  General 
Assembly  at  its  present  session,  the  undersigned  hereby  protest  against  the  passage  of  the  same, 
"  They  believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy;  but 
that  the  promulgation  of  abolition  doctrines  tends  rather  to  increase  than  abate  the  evils. 

"  They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  no  power,  under  the  Constitution, 
to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  different  States. 

"  They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  the  power,  under  the  Constitution, 
to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia ;  but  that  that  power  ought  not  to  be  exercised 
unless  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  said  District. 

"  The  difference  between  these  opinions  and  those  contained  in  the  said  resolutions,  is  their 
reason  for  entering  this  protest. 

DAN  STONE, 
A.  LINCOLN, 
Representatmes  from  the  county  of  Sa.nga.m.oni* 

^  That  his  opinions  on  this  subject  have  undergone  no  change  is 
evident  from  his  reply  to  an  interrogatory  of  Mr.  Douglas  at  the 
Freeport  debate,  in  J  858,  as  to  whether  he  (Lincoln)  did  not  stand 
pledged  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Mr. 
Lincoln  said  he  was  not  so  pledged,  and  added : 

"  In  relation  to  that,  I  have  my  mind  very  distinctly  made  up.  I  should  be  exceedingly  glad 
to  see  slavery  abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  I  believe  that  Congress  possesses  the  con- 
stitutional power  to  abolish  it.  Yet  as  a  member  of  Congress,  I  should  not,  with  my  present 
views,  be  in  favor  of  endeavoring  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  unless  it  would 
be  upon  these  conditions ;  First,  that  the  abolition  should  be  gradual ;  second,  that  it  should  be 
on  a  vote  of  the  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  in  the  District ;  and  third,  that  compensation 
should  be  made  to  unwilling  owners.  With  these  three  conditions,  I  confess  I  would  be  exceed- 
ingly glad  to  see  Congress  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and,  in  the  language  of 
Henry  Clay, '  sweep  from  our  Capital  that  foul  blot  upon  our  nation.' " 

55 


CHAPTER  VI I. -HE  MAGNANIMOUSLY  YIELDS  THE 
SENATORSHIP  TO  JUDGE  TRUMBULL. 

R.  Lincoln  was  not  a  candidate  for  re-election  to 
Congress.  This  was  determined  upon  and  publicly 
declared  before  he  went  to  Washington,  in  accordance 
with  an  understanding  among  leading  Whigs  of  the 
district,  and  by  virtue  of  which  Col.  John  J.  Hardin 
and  Col.  E.  D.  Baker  had  each  previously  served  a  single  term 
from  the  same  district.  After  the  adjournment  he  spoke  several 
times,  by  invitation,  in  advocacy  of  the  election  of  Gen.  Taylor, 
both  in  Maryland  and  Massachusetts ;  and  on  his  return  to  Illinois, 
he  canvassed  his  own  district  very  thoroughly,  which  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  majority  in  the  district  of  over  1 500  for  the  Whig  elec- 
toral ticket. 

■^  After  the  Presidential  election  of  J  848,  Mr.  Lincoln  applied 
himself  more  closely  than  ever  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In 
1852  he  was  again  placed  by  his  Whig  friends  upon  the  Scott  elec- 
toral ticket;  but  his  professional  engagements,  together  with  the 
utter  hopelessness  of  the  cause  in  Illinois,  deterred  him  from  mak- 
ing as  active  and  thorough  a  canvass  of  the  State  as  he  had  done  on 
former  like  occasions.  In  1854  his  profession  had  almost  super- 
seded all  thought  of  politics.  He  had  abandoned  all  political  aspi- 
rations, content,  as  it  seemed,  with  the  honors  which  his  profession 
brought  him.  The  country  was  once  more  free  from  excitement. 
The  agitation  which  grew  out  of  the  acquisition  of  territory  from 
Mexico  had  been  quieted  by  the  compromise  measure  of  J  850. 
Each  of  the  political  parties  had  expressed  a  determination,  in 
national  convention,  to  abide  by  that  settlement  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion. The  status  of  all  our  unsettled  territory  was  now  fixed  by 
law,  so  far  as  this  subject  was  concerned.  Sectional  jealousies 
were  obliterated,  sectional  strife  healed,  and  concord  and  repose 
marked  our  enviable  condition.  From  this  peaceful  and  happy 
state  the  country  was  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  aroused  as  "  by 
the  sound  of  a  fire-bell  at  night,"  by  the  introduction  of  a  bill  into 
the  United  States  Senate  for  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise. What  followed  is  painfully  fresh  in  the  public  recollection. 
The  country  was  convulsed  as  it  never  had  been  before,  and  wise 
56 


men  clearly  foresaw  the  evils  that  have  since  come  upon  us,  and 
from  which  we  have  not  yet  recovered. 

i^The  repeal  of  this  time-honored  compact  aroused  Mr.  Lincoln 
as  he  had  never  been  before.  He  at  once  perceived  the  conflicts 
that  must  grow  out  of  it ;  the  angry  strife  between  the  North  and 
the  South,  and  the  struggles  in  Kansas.  He  saw  in  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  a  wide  departure  from  the  mode  pursued  by  the 
fathers  of  dealing  with  slavery— that  while  the  policy  of  the  latter 
was  based  upon  a  recognition  of  its  wrongfulness,  the  Nebraska 
Bill  proceeded  upon  the  opposite  hypothesis,  that  it  is  not  wrong. 
He  saw,  and  he  foretold,  before  the  Supreme  Court  had  decided  the 
Dred  Scott  case,  that  the  judiciary  would  not  be  slow  to  indorse 
the  doctrine  of  Congress  and  the  President,  and  that  thus  each  of 
the  co-ordinate  branches  of  the  federal  government  would  stand 
committed  against  the  early  belief  that  slavery  is  wrong,  as  well  as 
against  the  early  policy  based  upon  that  belief.  Not  only  did  he 
regard  the  Nebraska  Bill,  therefore,  as  inaugurating  a  complete  rev- 
olution in  the  policy  of  the  government,  but  as  artfuily  designed  to 
lay  the  foundation  for  a  revolution  in  the  moral  sentiment  of  the 
country,  preparatory  to  the  establishment  of  slavery  in  the  free 
States  as  well  as  in  the  Territories,  and  the  revival  of  the  African 
slave  trade. 

i^On  his  return  to  Illinois,  after  the  passage  of  his  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  Mr.  Douglas  saw  the  mischief  which  that  measure 
had  wrought  in  the  ranks  of  his  party  in  his  own  State,  and  forth- 
with undertook  to  repair  it.  A  Legislature  was  to  be  elected  in 
November  of  that  year,  on  which  would  devolve  the  duty  of  elect- 
ing a  successor  to  Gen.  Shields  in  the  U.  S.  Senate.  It  was  a 
matter  of  great  importance  to  Mr.  Douglas  to  secure  the  re-election 
of  Gen.  Shields,  as  his  defeat  would  be  tantamount  to  a  censure 
upon  himself.  He  commenced  his  labors  in  Chicago,  where  he 
met  with  anything  but  a  flattering  reception  from  a  constituency 
whom  he  had  deceived,  and  whose  moral  sense  he  had  grossly 
outraged.  Thence  he  went  to  Springfield,  the  capital  of  the  State. 
He  arrived  there  at  the  time  the  State  Agricultural  Society  was 
holding  its  annual  fair.  The  occasion  brought  together  a  vast 
multitude  of  people  from  all  parts  of  the  State.  Hundreds  of  poli- 
h  57 


ticians  had  also  assembled,  among  whom  were  many  of  the  ablest 
men  of  the  State.  Much  time  was  devoted  to  political  speaking ; 
but  the  great  event  of  the  occasion  was  the  debate  between  Lin- 
coln and  Douglas.  It  had  been  nearly  fourteen  years  since  these 
gentlemen  had  been  pitted  against  each  other  in  a  public  discus- 
sion. In  the  canvass  of  J  840,  Lincoln  had  proved  himself  more 
than  a  match  for  Douglas  in  debate.  But  during  most  of  the  inter- 
vening years,  the  latter  had  occupied  a  position  either  in  the 
National  House  of  Representatives  or  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
where  he  had  made  a  national  reputation,  and  become  the  recog- 
nized leader  of  his  party,  and  had  grown  more  self-confident,  and 
arrogant  than  ever ;  while  the  former,  his  party  being  in  a  minor- 
ity in  the  State,  had  been  in  public  life  for  only  a  brief  period,  had 
devoted  himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  labors  of  his  profession, 
and  had  no  claim  to  a  national  reputation.  Douglas  through  his 
newspaper  organs  and  street  trumpeters,  a  class  to  whom  no  man 
is  more  greatly  indebted  for  his  reputation,  had  contrived  to  create  an 
impression  in  the  minds  of  many  people  that  he  had  grown  to  pro- 
portions too  gigantic  to  render  it  safe  for  so  unpretending  and  mod- 
est a  man  as  Lincoln  to  encounter  him.  Douglas  entered  upon  the 
debate  in  this  spirit.  He  displayed  all  of  his  most  offensive  pecu- 
liarities. He  was  arrogant,  insolent,  defiant,  and  throughout  his 
speech  maintained  the  air  of  one  who  had  already  conquered.  On 
the  next  day,  Lincoln  replied.  No  report  was  made  of  either  of 
the  speeches;  but  the  following  extract  from  the  Springfield /oor- 
na.1  of  the  following  day  (Oct.  6th),  will  show  how  Lincoln  acquit- 
ted himself,  and  how  greatly  Douglas  had  over-estimated  his  own 
abilities,  and  underrated  those  of  his  antagonist : 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  commenced  at  two  o'clock  P.  M.,  and  spoke  three  hours  and  ten  minutes.  'We 
propose  to  give  our  views  and  those  of  many  Northerners  and  many  Southerners  upon  the 
debate.  We  intend  to  give  it  as  fairly  as  we  can.  Those  Tvho  know  Mr.  Lincoln,  know  Imn 
to  be  a  conscientious  and  honest  man,  who  makes  no  assertions  that  he  does  not  know  to  be  true. 
This  Anti-Nebraska  speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  was  the  profoundest,  in  our  opinion,  that  he  has 
made  in  his  whole  life.  He  felt  upon  his  soul  the  truths  bum  which  he  uttered,  and  all  present 
felt  that  he  was  true  to  his  own  souL  His  feelings  once  or  twice  swelled  within  and  came  near 
stifling  utterance,  and  particularly  so,  when  he  said  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  taught 
us  tliat  '  all  men  are  created  equal '  —  that  by  the  laws  of  nature  and  nature's  God,  all  men  were 
free  —  that  the  Nebraska  Law  chained  men,  and  that  there  was  as  much  difference  between  the 
glorious  truths  of  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Nebraska  Bill,  as  there  was 
between  God  and  Mammon.    These  are  his  own  words.    They  were  spoken  with  emphasis, 

58 


feeling  and  true  eloquence  j  eloquent  because  tnie,  and  because  he  felt,  and  felt  deeply,  what  he 
said.  We  only  wish  others  all  over  the  State  had  seen  him  while  uttering  those  truths  only  as 
Lincoln  can  utter  a  felt  and  deeply-felt  truth.  He  quivered  with  feeling  and  emotion.  The 
whole  house  was  as  still  as  death.  He  attacked  the  Nebraska  Bill  with  unusual  warmth  and 
energy,  and  all  felt  that  a  man  of  strength  was  its  enemy,  and  that  he  intended  to  blast  it  if  he 
could,  by  strong  and  manly  efforts.  He  was  most  successful,  and  the  house  approved  the  glo- 
rious triumph  of  truth  by  loud  and  continued  huzzas.  Women  waved  their  white  handker- 
chiefs in  token  of  woman's  silent  but  heartfelt  assent.  Douglas  felt  the  sting.  He  frequently 
interrupted  Mr.  Lincoln.  His  friends  felt  that  he  was  crushed  by  Lincoln's  powerful  argument, 
manly  logic,  and  illustrations  from  nature  around  us.  The  Nebraska  Bill  was  shivered,  and 
like  a  tree  of  the  forest,  was  torn  and  rent  asunder  by  the  hot  bolts  of  truth.  Mr.  Lincoln  exhib- 
ited Douglas  in  all  the  attitudes  he  could  be  placed,  in  a  friendly  debate.  He  exhibited  the  Bill 
in  all  its  aspects,  to  show  its  humbuggery  and  falsehoods  i  and  when  thus  torn  to  rags,  cut  into 
slips,  held  up  to  the  gaze  of  the  vast  crowd,  a  kind  of  scorn  and  mockery  was  visible  upon  the 
face  of  the  crowd,  and  upon  the  lips  of  the  most  eloquent  speaker.  It  was  a  proud  day  for  Lin- 
coln.   His  friends  will  never  forget  it. 

"  Nowhere,  in  the  whole  speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  was  he  more  grand  than  at  the  conclusion.  He 
said  this  people  were  degenerating  from  the  sires  of  the  Revolution  —  from  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Monroe,  as  it  appeared  to  him ;  yet  he  called  upon  the  spirit  of  the  brave,  valiant 
free  sons  of  all  and  every  clime,  to  defend  freedom  and  the  institutions  that  our  fathers  and  Wash- 
ington gave  us  t  and  that  now  was  the  time  to  show  to  the  world  that  we  were  not  rolling  back 
towards  despotism.  At  the  conclusion  of  this  speech,  every  man  and  child  felt  that  it  was  unan- 
swerable ;  that  no  human  power  could  overthrow  it  or  trample  it  under  foot.  The  long  and 
repeated  applause  evinced  the  feelings  of  the  crowd,  and  gave  token  of  universal  assent  to  Lin- 
coln's whole  argument ;  and  every  mind  present  did  homage  to  the  man  who  took  captive  the 
heart  and  broke  like  a  sun  over  the  understanding." 

J|.The  following  extract  is  taken  from  an  account  of  the  same 
debate,  given  by  the  Chicago  Press  and  Tribune : 

"  It  would  be  impossible,  in  these  limits,  to  give  an  idea  of  the  strength  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  argu- 
ment. We  deemed  it  by  far  the  ablest  effort  of  the  campaign  —  from  whatever  source.  The 
occasion  was  a  great  one,  and  the  speaker  was  every  way  equal  to  it.  The  effect  produced  on 
the  listeners  was  magnetic  No  one  who  was  present  will  ever  forget  the  power  and  vehemence 
of  the  following  passage : 

"  '  My  distinguished  friend  says  it  is  an  insult  to  the  emigrants  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to 
suppose  they  are  not  able  to  govern  themselves.  We  must  not  slur  over  an  argument  of  this 
kind  because  it  happens  to  tickle  the  ear.  It  must  be  met  and  answered.  I  admit  that  the  emi- 
grant to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  is  competent  to  govern  himself,  but,'  the  speaker  rising  to  his  full 
height,  'I deny  his  right  to  govern  any  other  person  'without  that  person's  consent.'  The 
applause  which  followed  this  triumphant  refutation  of  a  cunning  falsehood  was  but  an  earnest 
of  the  victory  at  the  polls  which  followed  just  one  month  from  that  day. 

"  When  Mr.  Lincoki  had  concluded,  Mr.  Douglas  strode  hastily  to  the  stand.  As  usual  he 
employed  ten  minutes  in  telling  how  grossly  he  had  been  abused.  Recollecting  himself,  he  added, 
'  though  in  a  perfectly  courteous  manner '  —  abused  in  a  perfectly  courteous  manner  1  He  then 
devoted  half  an  hour  to  showing  that  it  was  indispensably  necessary  to  California  emigrants, 
Santa  Fe  traders  and  others,  to  have  organic  acts  provided  for  the  Territories  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  —■  that  being  precisely  the  point  which  nobody  disputed.  Having  established  this  pre- 
mise to  his  satisfaction,  Mr.  Douglas  launched  forth  into  an  argument  wholly  apart  from  the 
position  taken  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  had  about  half  finished  at  six  o'clock,  when  an  adjournment 
to  tea  was  effected.  The  speaker  insisted  strenuously  upon  his  right  to  resume  in  the  evening, 
but  we  believe  the  second  part  of  that  speech  has  not  been  delivered  to  this  day." 

59 


-ij 


1^  From  Springfield  the  parties  went  to  Peoria,  where  they  again 
discussed  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.  On  this  occasion  the  tri- 
umph of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  even  more  marked  than  at  Springfield. 
His  speech  occupied  over  three  hours  in  the  delivery ;  and  so  mas- 
terly was  it  in  argument,  so  crushing  in  its  sarcasm,  so  compact  in 
its  logic,  that  Mr.  Douglas  did  not  even  undertake  to  reply  to  the 
points  raised  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  It  was  a  thorough  and  unanswer- 
able exposition  of  all  the  sophisms  and  plausible  pretences  with 
which  Douglas  up  to  that  time  had  invested  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill,  and  he  stood  before  the  audience  in  the  attitude  of  a  mounte- 
bank, whose  tricks  are  clearly  seen  through  by  those  whom  he 
attempts  to  deceive.  Mr.  Lincoln's  speech  on  this  occasion  was 
reported.  As  a  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  he  drove  Doug- 
las to  the  wall  on  every  point,  take  the  following  extract.  Douglas 
had  urged  that  the  question  of  slavery  in  a  Territory  concerned 
only  the  people  of  the  Territory — that  it  could  be  of  no  interest  to 
the  people  of  Illinois  whether  slavery  was  "voted  up  or  voted 
down  "  in  Kansas.  To  this  Lincoln  replied  that,  in  the  first  place, 
the  whole  nation  is  interested  that  the  best  use  shall  be  made  of  all 
the  Territories,  and  that  this  end  can  alone  be  reached  by  preserv- 
ing them  as  homes  for  free  white  people.  His  other  point  was  the 
following,  and  certainly  a  more  conclusive  and  unanswerable  argu- 
ment has  never  been  uttered : 

"By  the  constitution,  each  State  has  two  senators — each  has  a  number  of  representatives,  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  its  people  —  and  each  has  a  number  of  Presidential  electors,  equal  to 
the  whole  number  of  its  senators  and  representatives  together.  But  in  ascertaining  the  number 
of  the  people,  for  the  purpose,  five  slaves  are  counted  as  being  equal  to  three  whites.  The  slaves 
do  not  vote  (  they  are  only  counted  and  so  used  as  to  swell  the  influence  of  the  white  people's  votes. 
The  practical  effect  of  this  is  more  aptly  shown  by  a  comparison  of  the  States  of  South  Carolina 
and  Maine.  South  Carolina  has  six  representatives,  and  so  has  Maine;  South  Carolina  has 
eight  Presidential  electors,  and  so  has  Maine.  This  is  precise  equality  so  far ;  and  of  course  they 
are  equal  in  senators,  each  having  two.  Thus,  in  the  control  of  the  government,  the  two  States 
are  equals  precisely.  But  how  are  they  in  the  number  of  their  wtiite  people?  Maine  has  581,- 
8J3,  while  South  Carolina  has  274,567.  Maine  has  twice  as  many  as  South  Carolina,  and  32,- 
679  over.  Thus  each  white  man  in  South  Carolina  is  more  than  the  double  of  any  man  in 
Maine.  This  is  all  because  South  Carolina,  besides  her  free  people,  has  384,984  slaves.  The 
South  Carolinian  has  precisely  the  same  advantage  over  the  white  man  in  every  other  free  State, 
as  well  as  in  Maine.  He  is  more  than  the  double  of  any  one  of  us.  The  same  advantage,  but 
not  to  the  same  extent,  is  held  by  all  the  citizens  of  the  slave  States,  over  those  of  the  free ;  and 
it  is  an  absolute  truth,  without  an  exception,  that  there  is  no  voter  in  any  slave  State,  but  who 
has  more  legal  power  in  the  government,  than  any  voter  in  any  free  State.  There  is  no 
instance  of  exact  equality  (  and  the  disadvantage  is  against  us  the  whole  chapter  through.    This 

60 


principle,  in  the  aggregate,  gives  the  slave  States  in  the  present  Congress  twenty  additional  rep- 
resentatives—  being  seven  more  than  the  whole  majority  by  which  they  passed  the  Nebraska 
BiU. 

"  Now  all  this  is  manifestly  unfair !  yet  I  do  not  mention  it  to  complain  of  it,  in  so  far  as  it 
is  already  settled.  It  is  in  the  Constitution,  and  I  do  not,  for  that  cause,  or  any  other  cause,  pro- 
pose to  destroy,  or  alter,  or  disregard  the  Constitution.  I  stand  to  it  fairly,  fully,  and  firmly.  But 
when  I  am  told  that  I  must  leave  it  altogether  to  other  people  to  say  whether  new  partners  are 
to  be  bred  up  and  brought  into  the  firm  on  the  same  degrading  terms  against  me,  I  respectfully 
demur.  I  insist,  that  whether  I  shall  be  a  whole  man,  or  only  the  half  of  one,  in  comparison 
with  others,  is  a  question  in  which  I  am  somewhat  concerned ;  and  one  which  no  other  man 
can  have  a  '  sacred  right '  of  deciding  for  me.  If  I  am  wrong  in  this  —  if  it  really  be  a  '  sacred 
right '  of  self-government,  in  the  man  who  shall  go  to  Nebraska,  to  decide  whether  he  will  be 
the  equal  of  me  or  the  double  of  me,  then  after  he  shall  have  exercised  that  right,  and  thereby 
shall  have  reduced  me  to  a  still  smaller  fraction  of  a  man  than  I  already  am,  I  should  like  for 
some  gentleman  deeply  skilled  in  the  mysteries  of  '  sacred  rights '  to  provide  himself  with  a 
microscope,  and  peep  about  and  find  out  if  he  can,  what  has  become  of  my  '  sacred  rights '  ? 
They  will  surely  be  too  small  for  detection  with  the  naked  eye, 

"  Finally,  I  insist  that  if  there  is  anything  which  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Tohole  people  to  never 
entrust  to  any  hands  but  their  own,  that  thing  is  the  preservation  and  perpetuity  of  their  own 
liberties  and  institutions.  And  if  they  shall  think,  as  I  do,  that  the  extension  of  slavery  endan- 
gers them,  more  than  any  or  all  other  causes,  how  recreant  to  themselves,  if  they  submit  the 
question,  and  with  it  the  fate  of  their  country,  to  a  mere  handful  of  men,  bent  only  on  tempo- 
rary self-interest  1  If  this  question  of  slavery  extension  were  an  insignificant  one  —  one  having 
no  power  to  do  harm  —  it  might  be  shuffled  aside  in  this  way.  But  being,  as  it  b,  the  great 
Behemoth  of  danger,  shall  the  strong  gripe  of  the  nation  be  loosened  upon  him,  to  entrust  him  to 
the  hands  of  such  feeble  keepers  ?" 

i^It  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  purpose  and  desire  to  continue  the  discus- 
sion with  Mr.  Douglas  during  the  remainder  of  the  canvass,  but 
that  gentleman  shrank  from  a  repetition  of  the  discomfiture  he  had 
suffered  at  Springfield  and  Peoria.  He  gave  Mr.  Lincoln  no  fur- 
ther opportunity  of  meeting  him.  But  notwithstanding  his  antag- 
onist withdrew  from  the  unequal  contest,  Mr.  Lincoln  continued 
in  the  field.  He  pressed  the  slavery  issue  which  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  had  forced  upon  the  country,  upon  the  peo- 
ple of  central  and  southern  Illinois,  who  were  largely  made  up  of 
emigrants  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina, with  all  the  powers  of  his  mind.  He  felt  the  force  of  the 
moral  causes  that  must  influence  the  final  settlement  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  he  never  failed  to  appeal  to  the  moral  sentiment  of  the 
people  in  aid  of  the  argument  drawn  from  political  sources,  and  to 
illuminate  his  theme  with  the  lofty  inspirations  of  true  eloquence 
pleading  for  the  rights  of  humanity. 

^  A  revolution  swept  the  State.  For  the  first  time  since  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Democratic  party,  a  majority  of  those  elected  to  the 

61 


II 


Legislature  of  Illinois  were  opposed  to  the  Democratic  administra- 
tion of  the  federal  government.  While  Mr.  Lincoln  was  engaged 
in  the  canvass  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  his  friends  in  Sangamon 
County,  without  his  consent  or  knowledge,  presented  his  name  for 
the  Legislature,  and  he  was  elected  to  that  body  by  a  handsome 
majority.  It  was  not  in  his  power  to  serve,  and  he  was  compelled 
to  decline  the  well-meant  honor  conferred  upon  him  by  the  people 
of  Sangamon.  This  was  Lincoln's  first  triumph  over  Douglas  in 
an  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  State ;  his  second  triumph  occurred 
two  years  later  in  the  election  of  the  entire  Republican  State  ticket ; 
and  his  third  was  in  the  memorable  Senatorial  contest  of  J  858, 
when  his  majority  over  Douglas  exceeded  four  thousand  votes. 
^  The  opposition  in  the  Legislature  was  made  up  of  Whigs,  Amer- 
icans, and  Anti-Nebraska  Democrats.  The  Republican  party  was 
not  organized  in  Illinois  until  1856— two  years  later.  These  three 
divisions  of  the  opposition  had  no  common  platform,  except  that  of 
hostility  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  to  the  revo- 
lutionary principles  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.  The  old  Whigs 
were  still  looking  for  a  revival  of  their  own  organization— the 
Anti-Nebraska  Democrats  had  not  abandoned  the  hope  that  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  the  principles  of  the  Kan- 
sas-Nebraska Bill  would  yet  be  repudiated  by  the  Democratic 
party.  When  the  election  of  a  United  States  Senator  came  on,  the 
latter  declined  going  into  caucus  with  the  Opposition.  They  had 
never  acted  politically  with  the  Whigs  as  a  party.  To  preserve 
their  identity,  to  be  able  to  exert  a  due  influence  on  the  Democratic 
party,  and  to  force  it  into  the  abandonment  of  its  new  and  danger- 
ous dogma,  they  believed  sound  policy  required  them  to  nominate 
and  adhere  to  one  of  their  own  number.  The  remainder  of  the 
Opposition  went  into  caucus  and  nominated  Mr.  Lincoln.  When 
the  two  houses  met  in  joint  session,  February  8,  J  855,  the  Whigs 
presented  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincob ;  the  Anti-Nebraska  Dem- 
ocrats that  of  Lyman  Trumbull ;  the  Democrats  that  of  Gen.  James 
Shields.  The  whole  number  of  votes  was  99,  of  which  50  were 
necessary  to  a  choice.  On  the  first  ballot  the  vote  stood,  for  Abra- 
ham Lincob  45;  James  Shields  41 ;  for  Lyman  Trumbull  5;  scat- 
tering 8.  On  the  seventh  ballot  the  Democrats  dropped  Gen. 
62 


Shields,  and  voted  for  Joel  A.  Matteson,  then  holding  the  office  of 
Governor  of  the  State.  Gov.  Matteson  had  never  openly  taken 
ground  for  or  against  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.  He  was  a 
shrewd  man,  and  had  long  been  arranging  and  planning  for  the 
emergency  which  had  now  occurred.  On  the  seventh  ballot  (first 
for  him)  he  received  44  votes,  two  higher  than  Shields  had  at  any 
time  received ;  on  the  eighth  he  received  46  votes,  and  on  the  ninth 
47,  within  three  of  an  election.  On  that  ballot,  for  a  second  time, 
the  joint  vote  of  Lincoln  and  Trumbull  was  just  sufficient  to  elect, 
if  thrown,  for  a  single  person,  viz.  for  Trumbull  35 ;  for  Lincoln 
J5;  and  this,  too,  was  the  first  time  that  Trumbull's  vote  had 
exceeded  Lincoln's.  Perceiving  the  danger  of  electing  Matteson 
unless  his  own  and  Trumbull's  strength  could  be  united  at  once, 
Lincoln  went  to  his  friends  and  begged  them  to  cast  their  united 
vote  on  the  next  ballot  for  Trumbull.  They  yielded  to  his  urgent 
entreaties,  and  on  the  next  ballot  Mr.  Trumbull  received  51  votes, 
and  was  declared  elected. 

•It  The  scene  will  long  be  remembered  by  those  who  witnessed  it. 
The  excitement  was  most  intense.  The  Democrats  had  never 
doubted  their  ability  to  elect  some  non-committal  man  like  Matte- 
son. They  did  not  believe  the  Opposition  could  be  brought  to  unite. 
Thev  were  not  prepared  for  such  a  display  of  magnanimity  as  that 
exhibited  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  result  filled  them  with  astonish- 
ment as  well  as  chagrin.  On  the  other  hand,  the  old  political  asso- 
ciates of  Mr.  Lincoln  felt  that  he  was  entitled  to  the  place,  and  that 
all  portions  of  the  Opposition  ought  to  have  united  in  awarding  it 
to  him.  Strong  men  wept  at  the  necessity  which  required  them  to 
withdraw  their  votes  from  him.  He  alone  was  calm  and  unmoved, 
in  the  midst  of  all  these  different  phases  of  excitement. 
•^  Zealous  efforts  have  since  been  made  to  awaken  unkind  feelings 
on  the  part  of  Mr.  Lincoln  against  Senator  Trumbull  and  those 
Anti-Nebraska  Democrats  who  brought  him  forward  as  a  candi- 
date; but  all  to  no  purpose.  The  relations  subsisting  between 
him  and  them  were  of  the  most  frank  and  cordial  character  at  the 
time,  and  such  they  have  been  ever  since.  He  justly  ranks 
them  among  his  best  friends;  and  surely  none  have  gone  or 
can  go  beyond  ^them  in  manifestation  of  zeal  in  his  behalf,  both 

63 


as  a  candidate  for  the  Senate  in  1858,  and  for  the  Presidency 
in  I860. 

1^  In  June,  1856,  a  convention  of  those  opposed  to  the  Democratic 
party,  was  held  at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  at  which  time  the  Repub- 
lican party  was  organized  in  that  State,  a  Platform  adopted,  a  State 
Ticket  nominated,  and  delegates  appointed  to  the  National  Repub- 
lican Convention  to  meet  at  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Lincoln  bore  a 
leading  part  in  securing  these  results.  Perhaps  no  other  man 
exerted  so  wide  and  salutary  an  influence  in  harmonizing  differ- 
ences, in  softening  and  obliterating  prejudices,  and  bringing  into  a 
cordial  union  those  who  for  years  had  been  bitterly  hostile  to  each 
other.  His  speech  before  that  Convention  will  ever  be  regarded 
by  many  of  those  who  heard  it,  as  the  greatest  effort  of  his  life. 
Never  was  an  audience  more  completely  electrified  by  human  elo- 
quence. Again  and  again,  during  the  progress  of  its  delivery,  they 
sprang  to  their  feet  and  upon  the  benches,  and  testified  by  long- 
continued  shouts  and  the  waving  of  hats,  how  deeply  the  speaker 
had  wrought  upon  their  minds  and  hearts.  It  fused  the  mass  of 
hitherto  incongruous  elements  into  perfect  homogeneity,  and  from 
that  day  to  the  present,  they  have  worked  together  in  harmonious 
and  fraternal  union.  It  kindled  also  an  enthusiasm  in  the  bosoms  of 
those  who  heard  it,  which  they  carried  home  with  them,  and  with 
which  they  imbued  their  neighbors,  and  by  which  the  Republican 
party  of  Illinois,  in  the  first  year  of  its  existence,  was  carried  tri- 
umphantly into  power. 

i^At  the  National  Republican  Convention  of  that  year,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's name  was  presented  by  the  Western  delegates  for  nomina- 
tion for  the  Vice-Presidency.  Although,  had  his  own  wishes  been 
consulted  in  the  matter,  he  would  not  have  consented  to  this  use 
of  his  name,  it  was  nevertheless  a  well-deserved  compliment,  as 
well  as  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  his  reputation  had  now  become 
national.  Mr.  Lincoln's  vote  on  the  informal  ballot  was  1 10— Mr. 
Dayton's,  259. 

.^During  the  recess  of  Congress  in  1857,  Mr.  Douglas  made  a 
speech  at  Springfield  in  further  vindication  of  his  Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill,  known  as  his  "  Grand  Jury  Speech,"  from  the  fact  that  he  was 
invited  to  deliver  it  by  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  U.  S.  District  Court 
64 


for  Southern  Illinois.  In  that  speech,  he  first  promulgated  the  doc- 
trine that  the  framers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  assert- 
ing that  "all  men  are  created  equal,"  simply  meant  to  say  that 
"British  subjects  on  this  continent  were  equal  to  British  subjects 
bom  and  residing  in  Great  Britain."  Mr.  Lincoln,  by  invitation  of 
a  large  number  of  his  fellow  citizens,  replied  to  Douglas.  When 
he  came  to  that  part  of  the  speech  which  contained  his  (Douglas's) 
theory  of  the  Declaration,  as  above  given,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  :— 

"  My  good  friends,  read  that  carefully  over,  some  leisure  hour,  and  ponder  well  upon  h.  See 
what  a  mere  wreck  —  a  mangled  ruin  —  it  makes  of  our  glorious  Declaration  1 

"  They  were  speaking  of  British  subjects  on  this  continent  being  equal  to  British  subjects  bom 
and  residing  in  Great  Britain  1  Why,  according  to  this,  not  only  negroes,  but  white  people  out- 
side of  Great  Britain  and  America,  were  not  spoken  of  in  that  instrument.  The  English,  Irish, 
and  Scotch,  along  with  white  Americans,  were  included,  to  be  sure,  but  the  French,  Germans, 
and  other  white  people  of  the  world  are  all  gone  to  pot  along  with  the  Judge's  inferior  races. 

"  I  had  thought  the  Declaration  promised  something  better  than  the  condition  of  British  sub- 
jects ;  but  no,  it  only  meant  that  we  should  be  equal  to  them  in  their  own  oppressed  and  une- 
qual condition.  According  to  that,  it  gave  no  promise  that,  having  kicked  off  the  King  and 
Lords  of  Great  Britain,  we  should  not  at  once  be  saddled  with  a  King  and  Lords  of  our  own. 

"  I  had  thought  the  Declaration  contemplated  a  progressive  improvement  in  the  condition  of 
all  men  everywhere ;  but  no,  it  merely  '  was  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  justifying  the  colonists 
in  the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world  in  withdrawing  their  allegiance  from  the  British  crown,  and 
dissolving  their  connection  with  the  mother  country.'  Why,  that  object  having  been  effected 
some  eighty  years  ago,  the  Declaration  is  of  no  practical  use  now  —  mere  rubbish  —  old  wad- 
ding left  to  rot  on  the  battle-field  after  the  victory  is  won. 

"I  understand  you  are  preparing  to  celebrate  the  'Fourth,'  to-morrow  week,  What  for? 
The  doings  of  that  day  had  no  reference  to  the  present ;  and  quite  half  of  you  are  not  even 
descendants  of  those  who  were  referred  to  at  that  day.  But  I  suppose  you  will  celebrate,  and 
w^ill  even  go  so  far  as  to  read  the  Declaration.  Suppose  after  you  read  it  once  in  the  old-fash- 
ioned way,  you  read  it  once  more  with  Judge  Douglas's  version.  It  will  then  run  thus :  '  We 
hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  British  subjects  who  were  on  this  continent  eighty- 
one  years  ago,  were  created  equal  to  all  British  subjects  bom  and  then  residing  in  Great  Britain.' 

"And  now,  I  appeal  to  all  —  to  Democrats  as  well  as  others  — are  you  really  willing  that  the 
Declaration  shall  thus  be  frittered  away?  —  thus  left  no  more  at  most,  than  an  interesting 
memorial  of  the  dead  past  ?  —  thus  shorn  of  its  vitality  and  practical  value,  and  left  without  the 
germ,  or  even  the  suggestion,  of  the  inalienable  rights  of  man  in  it  ?" 

iS^Mr.  Lincoln  then  gave  his  own  views  of  the  intention  of  the 
framers  of  the  Declaration ;  and  in  the  contrast  between  his  theory 
and  that  of  Douglas,  the  relative  moral  and  philosophic  status 
of  the  two  men  is  most  clearly  shown.  This  is  Mr.  Lincoln's 
theory : — 

"  I  think  the  authors  of  that  notable  instrument  intended  to  include  alt  men,  but  they  did  not 
intend  to  declare  all  men  equal  in  all  respects.  They  did  not  mean  to  say  all  were  equal  in 
color,  size,  intellect,  moral  developments,  or  social  capacity.  They  defined  with  tolerable  dis- 
tinctness in  what  respects  they  did  consider  ail  men  created  equal  —  equal  in  'certain  inalien^ 

i  65 


able  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.'  This  they  said,  and 
this  they  meant.  They  did  not  mean  to  assert  the  obvious  untruth  that  all  were  then  actually 
enjoying  that  equality,  nor  yet  that  they  were  about  to  confer  it  immediately  upon  them.  In 
fact,  they  had  no  power  to  confer  such  a  boon.  They  meant  simply  to  declare  the  righi,  so  that 
the  enforcement  of  it  might  follow  as  fast  as  circumstances  should  permit. 

"  They  meant  to  set  up  a.  standard  maxim  for  free  society,  'which  should  be  familiar  to 
all,  and  re^uered  by  all;  constantly  looked  to,  constantly  labored  for,  and  e-ven  though  never 
perfectly  attained,  constantly  approximated,  and  thereby  constantly  spreading  and  deepening 
its  influence,  and  augmenting  the  happiness  and  'value  of  life  to  all  people  of  all  colors, 
everywhere.  The  assertion  that  *  all  men  are  created  equal,'  was  of  no  practical  use  in  effect- 
ing our  separation  from  Great  Britain ;  and  it  was  placed  in  the  Declaration,  not  for  that,  but  for 
future  use.  Its  authors  meant  it  to  be  as,  tliank  God,  it  is  now  proving  itself,  a  stumbling-block 
to  all  those  who  in  after  times  might  seek  to  turn  a  free  people  back  into  the  hateful  paths  of  des- 
potism. They  knew  the  proneness  of  prosperity  to  breed  tyrants,  and  they  meant  when  such 
should  reappear  in  this  fair  land  and  commence  their  vocation,  they  should  find  left  for  them  at 
least  one  hard  nut  to  crack." 

.^Let  the  reader  decide  on  which  theory  the  heroes  of  the  Revolu- 
tion are  most  entitled  to  the  veneration  of  posterity— on  which  the 
assertion  and  defense  of  the  natural  and  inalienable  rights  of  man 
can  be  most  successfully  maintained. 


CHAPTER  VIII.-LINCOLN'S  SENATORIAL  CONTEST 
WITH  STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  IN  1858. 

HE  Democratic  State  Convention  met  at  Springfield  on 
the  2 1st  of  April,  J  858,  and  published  a  declaration  of 
the  principles  on  which  they  proposed  to  make  their 
battle.  They  resolved :  "  That  the  Democracy  of  Illi- 
nois are  unalterably  attached  to,  and  will  maintain  invi- 
olate, the  principles  declared  in  the  National  Democratic  Conven- 
tion at  Cincinnati,  in  June,  1856  " 

■^  Several  supplementary  resolutions  were  adopted,  all  tending  to 
the  same  conclusion.  Senator  Douglas  and  his  Democratic  col- 
leagues in  the  House  of  Representatives  were  warmly  indorsed, 
and  promised  the  "  earnest  and  efficient  support "  of  the  party  in  the 
coming  campaign.  No  rebuke  was  offered  to  the  Administration 
for  its  course  on  Lecompton,  except  by  a  misty  inference.  The  last 
resolution  was  as  follows:— 

"  Resot'oed,  That  in  all  things  wherein  the  National  Administration  sustain  and  carry  out 
the  principles  of  the  Democratic  party,  as  expressed  in  the  Cincinnati  platform  and  affirmed  in 
their  resolutions,  it  is  entitled  to  and  will  receive  our  hearty  support." 

i^The  distinct  and  unqualified  endorsement  of  the  Cincinnati  plat- 
form by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Douglas,  their  neglect  to  pass  any 
censure  on  the  corruptions  and  tergiversations  of  President 
Buchanan,  and  their  violent  speeches  in  the  Convention  against 
the  Republicans,  destroyed  whatever  hope  of  union  and  compro- 
mise might  have  been  entertained  by  members  of  either  party. 
The  challenge  had  passed,  and  the  Republicans  were  not  slow  in 
accepting  it.  Their  State  Convention  was  held  at  Springfield  on 
the  16th  of  June,  seven  weeks  later  than  the  other.  Nearly  one 
thousand  delegates  and  alternates  were  present,  and  the  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  credentials  reported  fourteen  hundred  persons 
in  attendance,  other  than  the  resident  population  of  the  capital.  It 
was  very  soon  ascertained  that  the  convention  was  all  for  Lincoln. 
Immediately  after  the  organization,  a  Chicago  delegate  brought 
into  the  hall  a  banner  on  which  were  inscribed  the  words,  "  Cook 
County  for  Abraham  Lincob."  The  whole  Convention  rose  sim- 
ultaneously, and  gave  three  cheers  for  the  candidate  upon  whom  it 

67 


was  proposed  to  confer  the  perilous  honor  of  a  nomination  against 
Senator  Douglas.     The  precarious  ground  which  Mr.  Douglas's 
opposition  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution  had  left  for  a  distinctive 
Republican  candidate  before  the  masses,  was  carefully  considered 
by  the  committee  on  resolutions.     The  alleged  sympathy  enter- 
tained for  him  by  prominent  Republicans  in  other  parts  of  the 
country;  the  odor  of  free-soil  which  he  had  collected  in  his  gar- 
ments during  the  recent  session  of  Congress,  notwithstanding  his 
obstinate  and  blind  adherence  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision ;  the  uni- 
versal favor  to  which  he  had  been  commended  by  the  persecutions 
of  the  Administration ;  the  flagrant  apportionment  of  the  State  into 
Legislative  Districts,  by  which  ninety-three  thousand  people  in  the 
Republican   counties   were  virtually  disfranchised,— combined  to 
give  a  very  unpromising  complexion  to  the  campaign.    Nothing 
was  to  be  done,  however,  but  to  lay  down  a  platform  of  straight 
Republican  principles  and  trust  to  their  potency,  and  the  popularity 
of  their  leader,  for  a  successful  issue.    It  was  agreed  that  any  result 
was  to  be  courted  rather  than  allow  the  Republican  party  to 
become  the  tail  for  a  kite  patched  together  from  the  Cincinnati  plat- 
form and  the  Dred  Scott  decision.    The  Convention  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  adoption  of  a  platform  of  principles,  and  the  nomina- 
tion of  candidates  for  State  Treasurer  and  Superintendent  of  Pub- 
lic Instruction.    It  was  not  deemed  advisable  by  the  committee  on 
resolutions  to  give  Mr.  Lincoln  a  formal  nomination  for  the  Senate, 
but  many  members  of  the  convention  deemed  it  proper  to  do  so, 
in  order  to  destroy  the  force  of  allegations,  which  had  already  been 
put  forth  by  Mr.  Douglas  from  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  that  the 
Republicans  designed  to  elect  a  different  man  provided  they  were 
successful  in  securing  a  majority  of  the  Legislature.    The  follow- 
ing resolution  was  therefore  offered  by  a  delegate,  and  adopted 
unanimously : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Hon.  Abraham  Lincoto  is  our  first  and  only  choice  for  U.  S.  Senator, 
to  fill  the  vacancy  about  to  be  created  by  the  expiration  of  Mr.  Douglas's  term  of  office." 

.^Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  frequently  called  for  during  the  session, 
but  did  not  make  his  appearance.    The  Secretary  of  State,  how- 
ever, announced  that,  if  it  was  the  desire  of  his  friends,  he  would 
68 


address  the  members  of  the  convention  in  the  Representatives' 
Hall  in  the  evening.  About  8  o'clock,  therefore,  the  room  was 
filled  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  about  half  an 
hour.  The  limits  of  this  work  do  not  permit  the  introduction  of 
any  speeches  at  full  length,  but  the  masterly  manner  in  which  the 
pending  topics  were  discussed,  the  wide  celebrity  which  this  speech 
acquired,  and  more  especially  the  fact  that  it  contained  the  essence 
of  the  whole  campaign,  require  that  more  than  a  passing  notice 
should  be  given  to  it.  The  exceeding  terseness  of  all  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's efforts  render  it  difficult  to  condense  his  utterances  without 
impairing  or  destroying  their  force,  yet  the  reader  will  be  able  to 
catch  the  essential  points  of  his  argument  from  the  following  sum- 
mary.    We  quote  the  opening  paragraph  entire : 

"  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  If  we  could  first  know  wliere  we  are, 
and  whither  we  are  tending,  v/e  could  better  judge  what  to  do,  and  how  to  do  it.  We  are  now 
in  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initiated  with  the  avowed  object,  and  confident  promise,  of 
putting  an  end  to  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of  ttiat  policy,  that  agitation  has  not 
only  not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  augmented.  In  my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease,  until  a  crisis 
shall  have  been  reached  and  passed.  'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe 
this  government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union 
to  be  dissolved  —  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall  —  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided. 
It  will  become  all  one  thing,  or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  wiU  arrest  the 
further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the 
course  of  ultimate  extinction ;  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward,  till  it  shall  become  alike 
lawful  in  all  the  States,  Old  as  well  as  New  —  North  as  well  as  South. 

"  Have  we  no  tendency  to  the  latter  condition  ? 

"  Let  any  one  who  doubts,  carefully  contemplate  that  now  almost  complete  legal  combination 
—  piece  of  machinery,  so  to  speak  —  compounded  of  the  Nebraska  doctrine,  and  the  Dred  Scott 
decision.  Let  him  consider  not  only  what  work  the  machinery  is  adapted  to,  and  how  well 
adapted ;  but  also,  let  him  study  the  history  of  its  construction,  and  trace  if  he  can,  —  or  rather 
fail,  if  he  can,  to  trace  the  evidences  of  design  and  concert  of  action,  among  its  chief  architects, 
from  the  beginning." 

i^Mr.  Lincoln  then  proceeded  to  show  that  prior  to  1854  slavery 
had  been  excluded  from  more  than  half  the  States  by  local  laws  or 
constitutions,  and  from  the  greater  portion  of  the  national  territory 
by  congressional  prohibition.  On  the  4th  of  January,  1854,  the 
struggle  commenced,  which  ended  with  the  repeal  of  the  congres- 
sional prohibition,  accomplished  on  the  grounds  of  squatter  sover- 
eignty, and  "sacred  right  of  self-government,"  which  meant  that 
**  if  any  one  man  chooses  to  enslave  another,  no  third  man  shall  be 
allowed  to  object."  This  is  shown  to  be  a  correct  definition  by  the 
fact  that  when  Mr.  Chase,  in  the  Senate,  and  Mr.  Mace,  in  the 

69 


House  of  Representatives,  offered  their  amendments  to  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  declaring  that  the  people  of  the  territories  might 
exclude  slavery  if  they  wanted  to,  Mr.  Douglas  and  the  other 
friends  of  the  measure  voted  them  doivn.  But  while  the  Nebraska 
Bill  was  going  through  Congress  the  Dred  Scott  case  was  going 
through  the  courts,  and  when  Senator  Trumbull  asked  Senator 
Douglas  whether  in  his  opinion  the  people  of  a  territory  could 
exclude  slavery,  the  latter  replied  that  it  was  "  a  question  for  the 
Supreme  Court," — the  Nebraska  Bill  having  provided  that  the 
rights  of  the  people  should  be  "  subject  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States."  The  Nebraska  Bill  was  passed  by  both  branches 
of  Congress,  and  received  the  signature  of  the  President ;  the  elec- 
tion of  1856  was  carried  by  the  Democracy,  on  the  issue  of  "  sacred 
right  of  self-government;"  and  then  the  Supreme  Court  decided, 
in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  that  neither  Congress  nor  a  Territorial  Leg- 
islature could  exclude  slavery  from  any  United  States  Territory. 
But  the  Dred  Scott  judges  refused  to  decide  whether  the  holding 
of  Dred  Scott  in  the  free  State  of  Illinois,  by  his  master,  made  him 
a  free  man.  One  member  of  the  Court  (Judge  Nelson)  approached 
this  branch  of  the  case  so  nearly  as  to  say  that  "  except  in  cases 
where  the  power  is  restrained  '  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States'  the  law  of_  the  State  is  supreme  over  the  subject  of  slavery, 
within  its  jurisdiction."  In  view  of  this  strange  decision,  does  it 
not  appear  that  the  phrase,  "subject  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,"  in  the  Nebraska  Bill,  was  interpolated  for  the  pur- 
pose of  leaving  room  for  the  Dred  Scott  decision?  We  quote 
again  from  Mr.  Lincoln's  words  : — 

"  We  cannot  absolutely  know  that  all  these  exact  adaptations  are  the  result  of  preconcert.  But 
^rhen  we  see  a  lot  of  framed  timbers,  different  portions  of  which  we  know  Iiave  been  gotten  out 
at  different  times  and  places  and  by  different  workmen  —  Stephen,  Franklin,  Roger,  and  James, 
for  instance  —  and  when  we  see  these  timbers  joined  together,  and  see  they  exactly  make  the 
frame  of  a  house  or  a  mill,  all  the  tenons  and  mortices  exactly  fitting,  and  all  the  lengths  and 
proportions  of  the  different  pieces  exactly  adapted  to  their  respective  places,  and  not  a  piece  too 
many  or  too  few  —  not  omitting  even  scaffolding  —  or,  if  a  single  piece  be  lacking,  we  see  the 
place  in  the  frame  exactly  fitted  and  prepared  yet  to  bring  such  piece  in  —  in  such  a  case,  we 
find  it  impossible  not  to  believe  that  Stephen  and  Franklin  and  Roger  and  James  all  understood 
one  another  from  the  beginning,  and  all  worked  upon  a  common  plan  or  draft,  drawn  up  before 
the  first  blow  was  struck." 

f^  So  far  as  to  Territories.    How  as  to  States  ?    Singularly  enough, 
70 


the  Nebraska  Bill  said  that  it  was  *'  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of 
this  act  not  to  legislate  slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State,  nor  to 
exclude  it  therefrom."  Why  was  the  word  "State"  employed? 
The  Nebraska  conspirators  were  legislating  for  Territories,  not 
States.  It  would  seem,  from  the  ominous  expression  of  Judge  Nel- 
son, quoted  above,  as  though  a  second  niche  had  been  left  in  the 
Nebraska  Bill,  to  be  filled  by  a  second  Dred  Scott  decision,— pos- 
sibly the  decision  in  the  Lemmon  case— declaring  that  as  no  Ter- 
ritoty  can  exclude  slavery,  neither  can  any  State.  "And,"  says 
Mr.  Lincoln,  "this  may  especially  be  expected  if  the  doctrine  of 
'  care  not  whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or  voted  up,'  shall  gain 
upon  the  public  mind  sufficiently  to  give  promise  that  such  a  decis- 
ion can  be  maintained  when  made." 

•^  Such  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  admirable  presentation  of  the  issues 
of  1858.  It  is  difficult  to  see  in  what  point  the  argument  is  not 
equally  good  to-day. 

1^  Mr.  Douglas  returned  to  Chicago  on  the  9th  of  July,  and  speed- 
ily realized  the  expectations  of  the  Republicans  of  his  own  State  by 
making  a  speech  cordially  and  emphatically  re-indorsing  the  Dred 
Scott  decision. 

•^  On  the  24th  of  July,  Mr.  Lincoln  addressed  the  following  note 
to  his  antagonist : 

"  Hon.  S.  A.  Douglas  —  My  Dea.r  Sir :  —  Will  it  be  agreeable  to  you  to  make  an  arrangement 
for  you  and  myself  to  divide  time,  and  address  the  same  audiences  during  the  present  canvass? 
Mr.  Judd,  who  will  hand  you  this,  is  authorized  to  receive  your  answer  j  and,  if  agreeable  to 
you,  to  enter  into  the  terms  of  such  arrangement. 

"Your  obedient  servant,  A.  LINCOLN." 

i^Mr  Douglas  had  too  vivid  a  recollection  of  his  past  encounters 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  to  desire  a  repetition  of  them.  Had  he  not  felt 
in  his  inmost  soul  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  more  than  a  match  for 
him  in  debate,  he  would  not  have  waited  for  a  challenge,  but 
would  himself  have  thrown  down  the  glove  to  Mr.  Lincoln  imme- 
diately upon  entering  the  State.  His  reply,  declining  the  proposed 
arrangement,  was  quite  voluminous,  and  presented  a  singular 
array  of  reasons  why  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  meet  Mr. 
Lincoln  according  to  the  terms  of  the  challenge.  His  chief  objec- 
tion was  that  the  Democratic  candidates  for  Congress  and  the  Leg- 

7J 


islaturc  desired  to  address  the  people  at  the  various  county  seats  in 
conjunction  with  him ;  a  pretext  which,  whether  true  or  not  as  to 
the  *'  desire/'  was  found  to  be  altogether  untrue  as  to  the  fulfillment. 
Mr.  Douglas,  nevertheless,  consented  to  seven  meetings  with  his 
opponent  for  joint  discussion,  to  wit,  at  Ottawa,  Freeport,  Jones- 
boro',  Charleston,  Galesburg,  Quincy,  and  Alton.  Mr.  Lincoln,  of 
course,  promptly  acceded  to  this  arrangement.  As  he  could  not 
prevail  upon  Douglas  to  meet  him  in  discussion  in  every  part  of 
the  State,  he  was  willing  to  do  the  next  best  thing— meet  him 
wherever  he  could  have  the  opportunity. 

1^  Mr.  Douglas  having  taken  no  notice  at  Chicago,  Bloomington, 
or  Springfield,  where  he  made  preliminary  speeches,  of  the  "  con- 
spiracy "  to  which  his  attention  had  been  called  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  in 
his  speech  of  June  1 6th,  the  latter  deemed  it  proper  to  take  a  default 
on  him,  and  to  dwell  somewhat  upon  the  enormity  of  his  having 
''  left  a  niche  in  the  Nebraska  Bill  to  receive  the  Dred  Scott  deci- 
sion," which  declared  that  a  Territorial  Legislature  could  not  abol- 
ish slavery.  Mr.  Douglas  was  not  slow  in  discovering  that  this 
charge,  fortified  as  it  was  by  overwhelming  evidence,  had  begun 
to  hurt.  Therefore,  at  Clinton,  De  Witt  County,  he  took  occasion 
to  read  the  charge  to  his  audience,  and  to  say  in  reply  that  "  his 
self-respect  alone  prevented  him  from  calling  it  a  falsehood."  A 
few  days  later,  the  "  self-respect "  broke  down,  and  at  Beardstown, 
Cass  County,  he  pronounced  it,  with  much  vehemence  of  gesture, 
an  "  infamous  lie  I" 

i^Mr.  Lincoln  commenced  his  canvass  of  the  State  at  Beards- 
town,  a  place  of  considerable  importance  on  the  Illinois  River,  on 
the  1 2th  of  August.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  on  this  occa- 
sion, he  reviewed  the  conspiracy  charge  in  a  manner  so  forcible 
that  it  can  only  be  told  in  his  own  language:— 

"  I  say  to  you,  gentlemen,  that  it  would  be  more  to  the  purpose  for  Judge  Douglas  to  say  that 
he  did  not  repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise ;  that  he  did  not  make  slavery  possible  where  it  was 
impossible  before ;  that  he  did  not  leave  a  niche  in  the  Nebraska  Bill  for  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
to  rest  in ;  that  he  did  not  vote  down  a  clause  giving  the  people  the  right  to  exclude  slavery  if 
they  wanted  to ;  that  he  did  not  refuse  to  give  his  individual  opinion  whether  a  Territorial  Leg- 
islature could  exclude  slavery ;  that  he  did  ttoi  make  a  report  to  the  Senate  in  which  he  said  that 
the  rights  of  the  people  in  tliis  regard  were  *  held  in  abeyance '  and  could  not  be  immediately 
exercised ;  that  he  did  not  make  a  hasty  indorsement  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision  over  at  Spring- 
field ;  that  he  does  not  now  indorse  the  decision ;  that  that  decision  does  not  take  away  from 

72 


the  Territorial  Legislature  tlie  power  to  exclude  slavery ;  and  that  he  did  not  in  the  original 
Nebraska  Bill  so  couple  the  words  St^te  and  Territory  together,  that  what  the  Supreme  Court 
has  done  in  forcing  open  all  the  Territories  for  slavery,  it  may  yet  do  in  forcing  open  all  the 
States —  I  say  it  would  be  vastly  more  to  the  point  for  Judge  Douglas  to  say  he  did  rjot  do  some 
of  these  things,  did  not  forge  some  of  these  Unks  of  overwhelming  testimony,  than  to  go  to  vocif- 
erating about  the  country  that  possibly  he  may  be  obliged  to  hint  that  somebody  is  a  liar  I " 

i^From  Beardstown,  Mr.  Lincoln  went  up  the  Illinois  River  to 
Havana  and  Bath,  Mason  County,  Lewiston  and  Canton,  Fulton 
County,  Peoria,  Henry,  Marshall  County,  speaking  at  each  place, 
and  thence  to  Ottawa  on  the  2 1st  of  August,  where  the  first  joint 
debate  was  appointed  to  take  place.  An  immense  audience,  esti- 
mated by  the  friends  of  both  parties  at  about  twelve  thousand,  had 
congregated  to  witness  the  first  grand  passage-at-arms.  Mr.  Doug- 
las had  appointed  to  himself  the  opening  and  closing  of  the  first 
and  last  of  the  seven  discussions.  Accordingly  he  occupied  an 
hour  in  opening  at  Ottawa,  giving  Mr.  Lincoln  an  hour  and  a  half 
to  reply  and  himself  half  an  hour  for  rejoinder.  The  only  thing  of 
even  moderate  consequence  presented  in  Mr.  Douglas's  first  hour 
was  a  series  of  questions  to  his  antagonist  drawn  from  a  series  of 
radical  anti-slavery  resolutions  which,  he  alleged,  had  been  reported 
by  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  chairman  of  a  committee,  to  the  Republican 
State  Convention  of  Illinois,  held  at  Springfield  in  October,  1854. 
To  this  Mr.  Lincoln  merely  replied,  that  no  Republican  State  Con- 
vention was  held  at  Springfield,  or  anywhere  else,  in  1854,  and 
that  he  was  not  present  at  the  meeting  held  there  by  a  small  num- 
ber of  persons,  who  nominated  a  candidate  for  State  Treasurer ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  was  in  another  county,  attending  court.  Having 
disposed  of  this  matter  for  the  present,  he  proceeded  to  occupy  his 
time  with  the  vital  issues  of  the  campaign,  dwelling  chiefly  on  the 
Dred  Scott  decision,  and  the  peculiar  reasons  put  forth  by  Mr. 
Douglas  for  sustaining  it.  "  This  man,"  said  he, "  sticks  to  a  decis- 
ion which  forbids  the  people  of  a  Territory  from  excluding  slavery ; 
and  he  does  so  not  because  he  says  it  is  right  in  itself— he  does 
not  give  any  opinion  on  that— but  because  it  has  been  decided  by 
the  court,  and  being  decided  by  the  court,  he  is,  and  you  are,  bound 
to  take  it  in  your  political  action  as  laiv— not  that  he  judges  at  all 
of  its  merits,  but  because  a  decision  of  the  court  is  to  him  a  '  Thus 
saith  the  Lord/  He  places  it  on  that  ground  alone,  and  you  will 
J  73 


bear  in  mind  that  this  committing  himself  unreservedly  to  this 
decision,  commits  him  to  the  next  one  just  as  firmly  as  to  this.  He 
did  not  commit  himself  on  account  of  the  merit  or  demerit  of  the 
decision,  but  it  is  a  Thus  saith  the  Lord.  The  next  decision,  as 
much  as  this,  will  be  a  Thus  saith  the  Lord. ' '  Yet,  as  Mr.  Lin- 
coln proceeded  to  show,  Mr.  Douglas's  public  record  presented 
three  glaring  instances  of  violation  of  Supreme  Court  decisions: 
( I )  his  repeated  indorsement  of  Gen.  Jackson's  course  in  disregard- 
ing the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  declaring  a  National  Bank 
constitutional;  (2)  his  indorsement  of  the  Cincinnati  platform, 
which  says  that  Congress  cannot  charter  a  National  Bank,  in  the 
teeth  of  the  Supreme  Court  decision,  declaring  that  Congress  can 
do  so ;  (3)  his  notorious  war  upon  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois 
which  had  decided  that  the  Governor  could  not  remove  a  Secretary 
of  State,  which  ended  in  the  appointment  of  five  new  Judges,  of 
'whom  Douglas  ivas  one,  to  vote  down  the  four  old  ones.  And 
here  exactly  was  the  time  and  place  where  Mr.  Douglas  acquired 
his  title  of  "Judge  1"  "These  things,"  continued  Mr.  Lincoln, 
"  show  there  is  a  purpose,  strong  as  death  and  eternity,  for  which 
he  adheres  to  this  decision,  and  for  which  he  will  adhere  to  all 
other  decisions  of  the  same  court." 

i^  The  following  eloquent  paragraph  concluded  the  Ottawa  debate, 
on  Mr.  Lincoln's  part  :— 

"  Now,  having  spoken  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  one  more  word,  and  I  am  done,  Henry 
Clay,  my  beau  ideal  of  a  statesman,  the  man  for  whom  I  fought  all  my  humble  life  —  Henry 
Qay  once  said  of  a  class  of  men  who  would  repress  all  tendencies  to  liberty  and  ultimate  eman- 
cipation, that  they  must,  if  they  would  do  this,  go  back  to  the  era  of  our  independence,  and 
muzzle  the  cannon  which  thunders  its  annual  joyous  return ;  they  must  blow  out  the  moral 
lights  around  us ;  they  must  penetrate  the  human  soul,  and  eradicate  there  the  love  of  liberty ; 
and  then,  and  not  till  then,  could  they  perpetuate  slavery  in  this  country  1  To  my  thinking, 
Judge  Douglas  is,  by  his  example  and  vast  influence,  doing  that  very  thing  in  this  community, 
when  he  says  that  the  negro  has  nothing  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Henry  Clay 
plainly  understood  the  contrary.  Judge  Douglas  is  going  back  to  the  epoch  of  our  Revolution, 
and,  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  muzzling  the  cannon  which  thunders  its  annual  joyous  return. 
When  he  invites  any  people,  willing  to  have  slavery,  to  establish  it,  he  is  blowing  out  the  moral 
lights  around  us.  When  he  says,  he  '  cares  not  whether  slavery  is  voted  down  or  voted  up'  — 
that  it  is  a  sacred  right  of  self-government  —  he  is,  in  my  judgment,  penetrating  the  human 
soul,  and  eradicating  the  light  of  reason  and  the  love  of  liberty  in  this  American  people.  And 
now  I  will  only  say,  that  when,  by  all  these  means  and  appliances.  Judge  Douglas  shall  succeed 
in  bringing  public  sentiment  to  an  exact  accordance  with  fiis  own  views  —  when  these  vast 
assemblages  shall  echo  back  all  these  sentiments  —  when  they  shall  come  to  repeat  his  views 
and  to  avow  his  principles,  and  to  say  all  that  he  says  on  these  mighty  questions — then  it  needs 

74 


oflly  the  formality  of  tlie  second  Dred  Scott  decision,  which  he  endorses  in  advance,  to  make 
slavery  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new.  North  as  well  as  South." 

■It  When  Mr.  Douglas  had  occupied  his  half-hour,  and  the  debate 
was  finished,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  borne  away  from  the  stand  on  the 
shoulders  of  his  friends,  in  a  frenzy  of  enthusiasm. 
J^  Directly  after  the  Ottawa  debate,  it  was  discovered  that  the  res- 
olutions which  Mr.  Douglas  produced  there,  and  declared  to  have 
been  written  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  at  Springfield,  in  J  854,  were  never 
adopted  at  that  place  by  anybody,  but  had  been  passed  by  a  local 
convention  at  Aurora,  Kane  County.  Common  people  very  natu- 
rally called  it  a  forgery.  At  the  Freeport  debate,  six  days  later, 
Mr.  Lincoln  referred  to  it  in  the  following  crushing  paragraph  :— 

"I  allude  to  this  extraordinary  matter  in  this  canvass  for  some  further  purpose  tfian  any- 
thing yet  advanced.  Judge  Douglas  did  not  make  his  statement  upon  that  occasion  as  of  mat- 
ters that  he  believed  to  be  true,  but  he  stated  them  roundly  as  being  true,  in  such  form  as  to 
pledge  his  veracity  for  their  truth.  When  the  whole  matter  turns  out  as  it  does,  and  when  we 
consider  who  Judge  Douglas  is — that  he  is  a  distinguished  Senator  of  the  United  States  —  that 
he  has  served  nearly  twelve  years  as  such — that  his  character  is  not  at  all  limited  as  an  ordinary 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  but  tliat  his  name  has  become  of  world-wide  renown  —  it  is  most 
extraordinary  that  he  should  so  far  forget  all  the  suggestions  of  justice  to  an  adversary,  or  of 
prudence  to  himself,  as  to  venture  upon  the  assertion  of  that  wliich  the  slightest  investigation 
would  have  shown  him  to  be  wholly  false.  I  can  only  account  for  his  having  done  so  upon  the 
supposition  that  that  evil  genius  which  has  attended  him  through  Jiis  life,  giving  to  him  an 
astonishing  prosperity,  such  as  to  lead  very  many  good  men  to  doubt  there  being  any  advantage 
in  virtue  over  vice  —  I  say,  I  can  only  account  for  it  on  the  supposition  that  that  evil  genius  has 
at  last  made  up  its  mind  to  forsake  him." 

iS^The  questions  propounded  by  Mr.  Douglas  to  his  antagonist  at 
Ottawa  were  still  outstanding,  unanswered.  At  Freeport,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln took  them  up,  and  replied  to  them  seriatim,  as  follows  :— 

Question  I.  "I  desire  to  know  whether  Lincoln  to-day  stands  pledged,  as  he  did  in  J 854,  in 
favor  of  the  unconditional  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law?" 

Answer.  I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did,  stand  pledged  in  favor  of  the  unconditional  repeal  of 
the  Fugitive  Slave  law. 

Q.  2.  "  I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  stands  pledged  to-day,  as  he  did  in  J  854,  against 
the  admission  of  any  more  slave  States  into  the  Union,  even  if  the  people  want  them  ?" 

A.  I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did,  stand  pledged  against  the  admission  of  any  more  slave  States 
Into  the  Union. 

0.  3.  "I  want  to  know  whether  he  stands  pledged  against  the  admission  of  a  new  State  into 
the  Union  with  such  a  Constitution  as  the  people  of  that  State  may  see  fit  to  make?" 

A.  I  do  not  stand  pledged  against  the  admission  of  a  new  State  into  the  Union,  with  such  a 
Constitution  as  the  people  may  see  fit  to  make. 

Q.  4.  "I  want  to  know  whether  he  stands  to-day  pledged  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  tlie 
District  of  Columbia  ?" 

A.    I  do  not  stand  pledged  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

75 


0.  5.  "  I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  stands  pledged  to  the  prohibition  of  the  slave-trade 
between  the  different  States  ?" 

A.    I  do  not  stand  pledged  to  the  prohibition  of  the  slave-trade  between  the  different  States. 

Q.  6.  "  I  desire  to  know  whether  he  stands  pledged  to  prohibit  slavery  in  all  the  Territories 
of  the  United  States,  north  as  well  as  south  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  line?" 

A.  I  am  impliedly,  if  not  expressly,  pledged  to  a  belief  in  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to 
prohibit  slavery  in  all  the  United  States'  Territories. 

Q.  7.  "  I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  is  opposed  to  the  acquisition  of  any  new  territory 
unless  slavery  is  first  prohibited  therein?" 

A.  I  am  not  generally  opposed  to  honest  acquisition  of  territory ;  and,  in  any  given  case,  I 
would  or  would  not  oppose  such  acquisition,  according  as  I  might  think  such  acquisition  would 
or  would  not  aggravate  the  slavery  question  among  ourselves. 

Now  my  friends  it  will  be  perceived,  upon  an  examination  of  these  questions  and  answers, 
that  so  far  I  have  only  answered  that  I  ^'as  not  pledged  to  this,  that,  or  the  other.  The  Judge 
has  not  framed  his  interrt^atories  to  ask  me  anything  more  than  this,  and  I  have  answered  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  interrogatories,  and  have  answered  truly  that  I  am  not  pledged  at  all 
upon  any  of  the  points  to  which  I  have  answ^ered.  But  I  am  not  disposed  to  hang  upon  the 
exact  form  of  his  interrogatory.  I  am  rather  disposed  to  take  up  at  least  some  of  these  questions, 
and  state  what  I  really  think  upon  them. 

As  to  the  first  one,  in  regard  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  I  have  never  hesitated  to  say,  and  I 
do  not  now  hesitate  to  say,  that  I  tliink,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  people 
of  the  Southern  States  are  entitled  to  a  Congressional  Fugitive  Slave  law.  Having  said  that,  I 
have  had  nothing  to  say  in  regard  to  the  existing  Fugitive  Slave  law,  further  than  that  I  think 
it  should  have  been  framed  so  as  to  be  free  from  some  of  the  objections  that  pertain  to  it,  without 
lessening  its  efficiency.  And  inasmuch  as  we  are  not  now  in  an  agitation  in  regard  to  an  alter* 
ation  or  modfication  of  that  law,  I  would  not  be  the  man  to  introduce  it  as  a  new  subject  of 
agitation  upon  the  general  question  of  slavery. 

In  regard  to  the  other  question,  of  whether  I  am  pledged  to  the  admission  of  any  more  slave 
States  into  the  Union,  I  state  to  you  very  frankly  that  I  would  be  exceedingly  sorry  ever  to  be 
put  in  a  position  of  fiaving  to  pass  upon  that  question.  I  should  be  exceedingly  glad  to  know 
that  there  would  never  be  another  slave  State  admitted  into  the  Union ;  but  I  must  add  that,  if 
slavery  shall  be  kept  out  of  the  Territories  during  the  territorial  existence  of  any  one  given  Ter- 
ritory, and  then  the  people  shall,  having  a  fair  chance  and  a  clear  field,  when  they  come  to 
adopt  the  Constitution,  do  such  an  extraordinary  thing  as  to  adopt  a  Slave  Constitution,  unin- 
fluenced by  the  actual  presence  of  the  institution  among  them,  I  see  no  alternative,  if  we  own 
the  country,  but  to  admit  them  into  the  Union. 

The  third  interrogatory  b  answered  by  the  answer  to  the  second,  it  being,  as  I  conceive,  the 
same  as  the  second. 

The  fourth  one  b  in  regard  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dbtrict  of  Columbia.  In  rela- 
tion to  that,  I  have  my  mind  very  dbtinctly  made  up.  I  should  be  exceedingly  glad  to  see 
slavery  abolbhed  in  the  Dbtrict  of  Columbia.  I  believe  that  Congress  possesses  the  Constitu- 
tional power  to  abolbh  it.  Yet  as  a  member  of  Congress,  I  should  not,  with  my  present  views, 
be  in  favor  of  endeavoring  to  abolbh  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  unless  it  would  be 
upon  these  conditions:  First,  that  the  abolition  should  be  gradual.  Second,  that  it  should  be 
on  a  vote  of  the  majority  of  qualified  voters  in  the  Dbtrict ;  and  third,  that  compensation  should 
be  made  to  unwilling  owners.  With  these  three  conditions,  I  confess  I  would  be  exceedingly 
glad  to  see  Congress  abolbh  slavery  in  the  Dbtrict  of  Columbia,  and,  in  the  language  of  Henry 
Clay,  "  sweep  from  our  Capital  that  foul  blot  upon  our  nation." 

I4  regard  to  the  fifth  interrogatory,  I  must  say  here,  that  as  to  the  question  of  the  abolition  of 
the  slave-trade  between  the  different  States,  I  can  truly  answer,  as  I  have,  that  I  am  pledged  to 
oothing  about  it.  It  b  a  subject  to  wfiich  I  have  not  given  that  mature  consideration  that  would 
make  me  feel  authorized  to  state  a  position  so  as  to  hold  myself  entirely  bound  by  it.  In  other 
words,  that  question  has  never  been  prominently  enough  before  me  to  induce  me  to  investigate 

76 


whether  we  really  have  the  constitutional  power  to  do  it.  I  could  investigate  it  if  I  had  suffi- 
cient time,  to  bring  myself  to  a  conclusion  upon  that  subject ;  but  I  have  not  done  so,  and  I  say 
so  frankly  to  you  here,  and  to  Judge  Douglas.  I  must  say,  however,  that  if  I  should  be  of 
opinion  that  Congress  does  possess  the  constitutional  power  to  abolish  the  slave-trade  among  the 
different  States,  I  should  still  not  be  in  favor  of  the  exercise  of  that  power  unless  upon  some  con- 
servative principle,  as  I  conceive  it,  akin  to  what  I  have  said  in  relation  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

My  answ^er  as  to  whether  I  desire  that  slavery  should  be  prohibited  in  all  the  Territories  of 
the  United  States,  b  full  and  explicit  within  itself,  and  cannot  be  made  clearer  by  any  comments 
of  mine.  So  I  suppose  in  regard  to  the  question  whether  I  am  opposed  to  the  acquisition  of  any 
more  territory  unless  slavery  is  first  prohibited  therein,  my  answer  is  such  that  I  could  add  noth- 
ing by  way  of  illustration,  or  making  myself  better  understood,  than  the  answer  which  I  fiave 
placed  in  writing. 

1^  Mr.  Lincoln  having  answered  all  the  questions  propounded  by 
his  adversary,  as  Senator  Benjamin  observes,  "  with  no  equivoca- 
tion, no  evasion,"  it  now  became  his  turn  to  interrogate.  The 
two  prominent  facts  of  the  campaign,  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  view,  were 
"Popular  Sovereignty,"  so  called,  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision — 
each  a  sham  and  a  fraud,  yet  directly  antagonistic.  Mr.  Lincoln 
therefore  resolved  to  present  them  to  Mr.  Douglas  in  the  form  of  a 
brief  interrogatory,  so  worded  that  even  the  latter  could  find  no 
avenue  for  escaping  or  dodging  the  contradiction.  He  mentioned 
to  some  of  his  friends  at  Freeport  that  such  was  his  purpose.  They 
unanimously  counseled  him  to  let  that  topic  alone,  "  for,"  said  they, 
"if  you  put  that  question  to  him,  he  will  perceive  that  an  answer 
giving  practical  force  and  effect  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision  in  the 
Territories  inevitably  loses  him  the  battle,  and  he  will  therefore 
reply  by  affirming  the  decision  as  an  abstract  principle,  but  denying 
its  practical  application."  "  But,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  if  he  does  that, 
he  can  never  be  President."  His  friends  replied,  with  one  voice, 
" That's  not  your  lookout ;  you  are  after  the  Senatorship"  " No, 
gentlemen,"  rejoined  Mr.  Lincoln,  "/  am  killing  larger  game. 
The  battle  of  I860  is  worth  a  hundred  of  this!"  So  the  questions 
were  put,  and  Mr.  Douglas  was  forced  to  avow  his  dogma  of 
*'  unfriendly  legislation."  His  present  position  as  the  candidate  for 
the  Presidency  of  a  faction  of  his  party,  verifies  Mr.  Lincoln's 
prediction. 

^  The  third  joint  discussion  was  held  nineteen  days  later,  at  Jones- 
borough,  Union  County  (Lower  Egypt),  on  the  1 5th  of  September. 
The  intervening  time  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  active  can- 

77 


vassing.  He  spoke  successively  to  large  audiences  at  Fremont, 
Carlinville,  Clinton,  Bloomington,  Monticello,  Mattoon,  Paris,  Hills- 
borough, Edwardsville,  and  Greenville. 

.^At  Edwardsville,  Madison  County,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  compara- 
tively a  small  audience— three  or  four  hundred,  perhaps.  This 
county  was  one  of  four  in  the  State  which  gave  a  plurality 
for  Mr.  Fillmore  in  1856— the  vote  standing:  Fillmore,  1,658; 
Buchanan,  1,451;  Fremont,  1,111.  Notwithstanding  the  "con- 
servative" character  of  the  people  in  this  latitude,  Mr.  Lincoln 
gave  them  a  straightforward  Republican  speech,  without  altering 
or  modifying  a  syllable  of  the  party  creed,  concluding  with  the  fol- 
lowing masterly  appeal  to  the  reason  and  consciences  of  his  hearers : 

"My  friends,  I  have  endeavored  to  show  you  the  logical  consequences  of  the  Dred  Scott  decis- 
ion, which  holds  that  the  people  of  a  Territory  cannot  prevent  the  establishment  of  slavery  in 
their  midst.  I  have  stated  what  cannot  be  gainsayed,  that  the  grounds  upon  which  this  decision 
is  made  are  equally  applicable  to  the  Free  States  as  to  the  Free  Territories,  and  that  the  peculiar 
reasons  put  forth  by  Judge  Douglas  for  endorsing  this  decision,  commit  him  in  advance  to  the 
next  decision,  and  to  all  other  decisions  emanating  from  the  same  source.  And,  when  by  all 
these  means  you  have  succeeded  in  dehumanizing  the  negro ;  when  you  have  put  him  down,  and 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  be  but  as  the  beasts  of  the  field ;  when  you  have  extinguished  his 
soul,  and  placed  him  where  the  ray  of  hope  is  blown  out  in  the  darkness  that  broods  over  the 
damned,  are  you  quite  sure  the  demon  you  have  roused  will  not  turn  and  rend  you  ?  What 
constitutes  the  bulwark  of  our  liberty  and  independence?  It  is  not  our  frowning  battlements, 
our  bristling  sea-coasts,  the  guns  of  our  war  steamers,  or  the  strength  of  our  gallant  army. 
These  are  not  our  reliance  against  a  resumption  of  tyranny  in  our  land.  All  of  them  may  be 
turned  against  our  liberties  without  making  us  stronger  or  weaker  for  the  struggle.  Our  reli- 
ance is  in  the  love  of  liberty  which  God  has  planted  in  our  bosoms.  Our  defense  is  in  the  pre- 
servation of  the  spirit  which  prizes  liberty  as  the  heritage  of  all  men,  in  all  lands  everywhere. 
Destroy  this  spirit,  and  you  have  planted  the  seeds  of  despotism  around  your  own  doors.  Famil- 
iarize yourselves  with  the  chains  of  bondage,  and  you  are  preparing  your  own  limbs  to  wear 
them.  Accustomed  to  trample  on  the  rights  of  those  around  you,  you  have  lost  the  genius  of 
your  own  independence,  and  become  the  fit  subjects  of  the  first  cunning  tyrant  who  rises  among 
you.  And  let  me  tell  you  that  all  these  things  are  prepared  for  you  with  the  logic  of  history,  if 
the  elections  shall  promise  that  the  next  Dred  Scott  decision  and  all  future  decisions  will  be  qui- 
etly acquiesced  in  by  the  people." 

.^  After  making  a  similar  speech  at  Greenville,  Bond  County, 
whose  vote  stood  in  1856:  Fillmore,  659;  Buchanan,  607;  Fre- 
mont, 153,— but  which  was  nevertheless  carried  in  1858  by  Mr. 
Gillespie,  the  Republican  candidate  for  State  Senator — Mr.  Lin- 
coln proceeded  to  the  Jonesborough  "  milk-pan,"  as  he  facetiously 
termed  it,  because  Mr.  Douglas  had  said  at  Ottawa,  in  his  usual 
ornate  style,  that  he  was  "going  to  trot  him  (Mr.  L.)  down  to 
78 


Egypt,  and  bring  him  to  his  milk."  In  this  debate,  Mr.  Lincoln 
devoted  considerable  attention  to  the  "unfriendly  legislation" 
dodge,  clearly  demonstrating  that,  if  the  Constitution  confers  the 
right  of  taking  slaves  into  the  territories,  the  territorial  legislature 
cannot  annul  the  right,  and  that  Congress  is  bound  to  give  the 
slaveholder  ample  protection  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  right,  should 
the  territorial  legislature  neglect  to  do  so.  Subsequently,  in  a 
speech  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  the  finishing  blow  to 
"  unfriendly  legislation,"  in  the  following  terse  and  admirable  defi- 
nition :— 

"  The  Dred  Scott  decision  expressly  gives  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  a  right  to  carry 
his  slaves  into  the  United  States'  Territories.  And  now  there  was  some  inconsistency  in  saying 
that  the  decision  was  right,  and  saying,  too,  that  the  people  of  the  Territory  could  lawfully 
drive  slavery  out  again.  When  all  the  trash,  the  words,  the  collateral  matter,  was  cleared  away 
from  it  —  all  the  chaff  was  fanned  out  of  it,  it  was  a  bare  absurdity  —  no  less  than  that  a.  thing 
may  be  la'wfully  dri<oen  a^way  from  'where  it  has  a  laixiful  right  to  he." 

■I^The  fourth  joint  discussion  took  place  at  Charleston,  Coles 
County,  on  the  1 8th  of  September,  three  days  after  the  Jonesboro' 
debate,  Mr.  Lincoln  having  the  opening  and  closing.  This  debate 
was  remarkable  chiefly  for  the  fact  that  Mr.  Lincoln  fastened  upon 
his  antagonist,  by  incontrovertible  proof,  the  charge  of  having  con- 
spired with  Senator  Toombs  and  others  to  bring  Kansas  into  the 
Union,  without  having  her  Constitution  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the 
people,  for  the  purpose  of  making  her  a.  slave  State.  Whoever  will 
turn  to  that  debate  and  examine  the  proofs  presented  by  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, cannot  possibly  entertain  a  doubt  as  to  the  existence  of  such 
a  conspiracy,  and  that  Douglas  was  a  party  to  it. 
1^"  Negro  equality,"  the  peculiar  bugaboo  of  Mr.  Douglas,  also 
received  a  few  moments*  attention  from  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Charleston, 
in  these  words : — 

"  While  I  was  at  the  hotel  to-day,  an  elderly  gentleman  called  upon  me  to  know  whether  I 
was  really  in  favor  of  producing  a  perfect  equality  between  the  negroes  and  white  people.  While 
I  had  not  proposed  to  myself  on  this  occasion  to  say  much  on  that  subject,  yet  as  the  question 
was  asked  me  I  thought  I  would  occupy  perhaps  five  minutes  in  saying  something  in  regard  to 
it.  I  will  say,  then,  that  I  am  not,  or  ever  have  been,  in  favor  of  bringing  about  in  any  way 
the  social  and  political  equality  of  the  white  and  black  races  — that  I  am  not  nor  ever  have  been 
in  favor  of  making  voters  or  jurors  of  negroes,  nor  of  qualifying  them  to  hold  office,  nor  to  inter- 
marry with  white  people ;  and  I  will  say,  in  addition  to  this,  tliat  there  is  a  physical  difference 
between  tlie  white  and  black  races  which  I  believe  will  forever  forbid  the  two  races  living 

79 


together  on  terms  of  social  and  political  equality.  And,  inasmuch  as  they  cannot  so  live,  while 
they  do  remain  together  there  must  be  the  position  of  superior  and  inferior,  and  I  as  much  as 
any  other  man  am  in  favor  of  having  the  superior  position  assigned  to  the  white  race.  I  say 
upon  this  occasion,  I  do  not  perceive  that,  because  the  white  man  is  to  have  the  superior  position, 
the  negro  should  be  denied  everything.  I  do  not  understand  that  because  I  do  not  want  a  negro 
woman  for  a  slave  I  must  necessarily  want  her  for  a  wife.  My  understanding  is,  that  I  can  just 
let  her  alone.  I  am  now  in  my  fiftieth  year,  and  I  certainly  never  have  had  a  black  woman  for 
either  a  slave  or  a  wife.  So  it  seems  to  me  quite  possible  for  us  to  get  along  without  making 
either  slaves  or  wives  of  negroes.  I  will  add  to  this,  that  I  have  never  seen,  to  my  knowledge,"* 
man,  woman  or  child,  who  was  in  favor  of  producing  perfect  equality,  social  and  poUtical, 
between  negroes  and  white  men.  I  recollect  of  but  one  distinguished  instance  that  I  ever  heard 
of  so  frequently  as  to  be  entirely  satisfied  of  its  correctness  —  and  that  is  the  case  of  Judge  Doug- 
las's old  friend.  Col.  Richard  M.Johnson.  I  will  abo  add  to  the  remarks  I  have  made,  (for  I  am 
not  going  to  enter  at  large  upon  this  subject),  that  I  have  never  had  the  least  apprehension  that  I 
or  my  friends  would  marry  negroes  if  there  was  no  law  to  keep  them  from  it;  but  as  Judge 
Douglas  and  his  friends  seem  to  be  in  great  apprehension  that  they  might,  if  there  were  no  law 
to  keep  them  from  it,  I  give  him  the  most  solemn  pledge  that  I  will  to  the  very  last  stand  by 
the  law  of  this  State,  which  forbids  the  marrying  of  white  people  with  negroes.  I  will  add  one 
further  word,  which  is  this:  that  I  do  not  understand  that  there  is  any  place  where  an  alteration 
of  the  social  and  political  relations  of  the  negro  and  the  white  man  can  be  made  except  in  the 
State  Legislature  — not  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  — and  as  I  do  not  really  apprehend 
the  approach  of  any  such  thing  myself,  and  as  Judge  Douglas  seems  to  be  in  constant  horror  that 
some  such  danger  is  rapidly  approaching,  I  propose,  as  the  best  means  to  prevent  it,  that  the 
Judge  be  kept  at  home  and  placed  in  the  State  Legislature  to  fight  the  measure." 

i^At  the  Galesburg  debate,  held  on  the  7th  of  October,  Mr.  Lin- 
cob  uttered  the  remarkable  prediction  concerning  his  adversary 
which  we  now  see  realized,  in  answer  to  one  of  Mr.  Douglas's 
tirades  about  "sectionalism":— 

"I  ask  his  attention  also  to  the  fact  that,  by  the  rule  of  nationality,  he  is  himself  fast  becom- 
ing sectional.  I  ask  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  his  speeches  would  not  go  as  current  now 
south  of  the  Ohio  river  as  they  have  formerly  gone  there.  I  ask  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  he 
felicitates  himself  to-day  that  all  the  Democrats  of  the  free  States  are  agreeing  with  him,  while 
he  omits  to  tell  us  that  the  Democrats  of  any  slave  State  agree  with  him.  If  he  ha^  not  thought 
of  this,  I  commend  to  his  consideration  the  evidence  in  his  own  declaration,  on  this  day,  of  his 
becoming  sectional  too.  I  sec  it  rapidly  approaching.  Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  this  ephe- 
meral contest  between  Judge  Douglas  and  myself,  I  see  the  day  rapidly  approaching  when  his 
pill  of  sectionalism,  which  he  has  been  thrusting  down  the  throats  of  Republicans  for  years  past, 
will  be  crowded  down  his  own  throat." 

.S^The  sixth  (Quincy)  debate  took  place  on  the  J  3th  of  October. 
It  was  at  this  meeting  that  Mr.  Lincoln  made  an  argument  to  prove 
that  the  Dred  Scott  premise  as  to  the  constitutional  right  to  take 
slaves  into  the  territories,  if  carried  to  its  logical  results,  would 
establish  the  right  to  take  and  hold  them  in  the  free  States  also. 
Subsequently,  Mr,  Douglas,  in  his  Harper  Magazine  article,  appro- 
priated this  argument  of  Mr.  Lincob  to  his  own  use,  without  giv- 
mg  credit  therefor. 
80 


1^  The  reader  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  volume  of 
these  debates,  will  find  that,  while  Mr.  Lincoln  made  a  new  argu- 
ment at  each  meeting,  Mr.  Douglas's  portion  of  each  debate  was 
substantially  a  repetition  of  his  first  effort  at  Ottawa. 
i^Two  days  later,  on  the  1 5th  of  October,  the  final  encounter 
between  the  champions  took  place  at  Alton.  This  volume  would 
be  incomplete  without  the  admirable  summing  up  of  the  issues  of 
the  campaign  there  appropriately  presented  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  Let 
no  one  fail  to  peruse  it. 

I  have  stated  upon  fonnef  occasions,  and  I  may  as  well  state  again,  what  I  understand  to  be 
the  real  issue  in  this  controversy  between  Judge  Douglas  and  myself.  On  the  point  of  my  want- 
ing to  make  war  between  the  free  and  the  slave  States,  there  has  been  no  issue  between  us.  So, 
too,  when  he  assumes  that  I  am  in  favor  of  introducing  a  perfect  social  and  political  equality 
between  the  white  and  black  races.  These  are  false  issues,  upon  which  Judge  Douglas  has 
tried  to  force  the  controversy.  There  is  no  foundation  in  truth  for  the  charge  that  I  maintain 
either  of  these  propositions.  The  real  issue  in  this  controversy — the  one  pressing  upon  every 
mind— is  the  sentiment  on  the  part  of  one  class  that  looks  upon  the  institution  of  slavery  as  a 
•wrong,  and  of  another  class  that  docs  not  look  upon  it  as  a  wrong.  The  sentiment  that  con- 
templates the  institution  of  slavery  in  this  country  as  a  wrong  is  the  sentiment  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  It  is  the  sentiment  around  which  all  their  actions — all  their  arguments  circle — 
from  which  all  their  propositions  radiate.  They  look  upon  it  as  being  a  moral,  social  and  po- 
litical wrong ;  and  while  they  contemplate  it  as  such,  they  nevertheless  have  due  regard  for  its 
actual  existence  among  us,  and  the  difficulties  of  getting  rid  of  it  in  any  satisfactory  way,  and  to 
all  the  constitutional  obligations  thrown  about  it.  Yet,  having  a  due  regard  for  these,  they  de- 
sire a  policy  in  regard  to  it  that  looks  to  its  not  creating  any  more  danger.  They  insist  that  it 
should,  so  far  as  may  be,  be  treated  as  a  wrong,  and  one  of  the  methods  of  treating  it  as  a 
wrong  b  to  muke  pro^vision  that  it  shall  grom>  no  larger.  They  also  desire  a  policy  that  looks 
to  a  peaceful  end  of  slavery  at  some  time,  as  being  wrong.  These  are  the  views  they  entertain 
in  regard  to  it,  as  I  understand  them;  and  all  their  sentiments— all  their  arguments  and  propo- 
sitions— are  brought  within  this  range.  I  have  said,  and  I  repeat  it  here,  that  if  there  be  a  man 
amongst  us  who  does  not  think  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  -wrong  in  any  one  of  the  aspects 
of  which  I  have  spoken,  he  is  misplaced,  and  ought  not  to  be  with  us.  And  if  there  be  a  man 
amongst  us  who  is  so  impatient  of  it  as  a  wrong  as  to  disregard  its  actual  presence  among  us 
and  the  difficulty  of  getting  rid  of  it  suddenly  in  a  satisfactory  way,  and  to  disregard  the  consti- 
tutional obligations  thrown  about  it,  that  man  is  misplaced  if  he  is  on  our  platform.  We  dis- 
claim sympathy  with  him  in  practical  action.    He  is  not  placed  properly  with  us. 

On  this  subject  of  treating  it  as  a  wrong,  and  limiting  its  spread,  let  me  say  a  word.  Has 
anything  ever  threatened  the  existence  of  tliis  Union  save  and  except  this  very  institution  of 
slavery?  What  is  it  that  we  hold  most  dear  amongst  us?  Our  own  liberty  and  prosperity. 
What  has  ever  threatened  our  liberty  and  prosperity  save  and  except  this  institution  of  slavery? 
If  tfiis  is  true,  how  do  you  propose  to  improve  the  condition  of  things  by  enlarging  slavery — by 
spreading  it  out  and  making  it  bigger?  You  may  have  a  wen  or  cancer  upon  your  person  and 
not  be  able  to  cut  it  out  lest  you  bleed  to  death;  but  surely  it  is  no  way  to  cure  it,  to  engraft  it 
and  spread  it  over  your  whole  body.  That  is  no  proper  way  of  treating  what  you  regard  as  a 
■wrong.  You  see  this  peaceful  way  of  dealing  with  it  as  a  wrong — restricting  the  spread  of  it, 
and  not  allowing  it  to  go  into  new  countries  where  it  has  not  already  existed.  That  is  the 
peaceful  way,  the  old-fashioned  way,  the  way  in  which  the  fathers  themselves  set  us  the 
example. 

k  81 


On  the  other  hand,  I  have  said  there  is  a  sentiment  which  treats  it  as  noi  being  wrong.  That 
is  the  Democratic  sentiment  of  this  day.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  every  man  who  stands 
within  that  range  positively  asserts  that  it  is  right.  That  class  will  include  all  who  positively 
assert  that  it  is  right,  and  all  who  like  Judge  Douglas  treat  it  as  indifferent,  and  do  not  say  it  is 
either  right  or  wrong.  These  two  classes  of  men  fall  within  the  general  class  of  those  who  do 
not  look  upon  it  as  a  wrong.  And  if  there  be  among  you  anybody  who  supposes  that  he,  as  a 
Democrat,  can  consider  himself  "  as  much  opposed  to  slavery  as  anybody,"  I  would  like  to  rea- 
son with  him.  You  never  treat  it  as  a  wrong.  What  other  thing  that  you  consider  as  a  wrong 
do  you  deal  with  as  you  deal  with  that  ?  Perhaps  you  say  it  is  wrong,  but  your  leader  ne-ver 
does,  and  you  quarrel  ■with  anybody  luho  says  it  is  <wrong.  Although  you  pretend  to  say  so 
yourself,  you  can  find  no  fit  place  to  deal  with  it  as  a  wrong.  You  must  not  say  anything 
about  it  in  the  free  States,  because  it  is  not  here.  You  must  not  say  anything  about  it  in  the 
slave  States,  because  it  is  there.  You  must  not  say  anything  about  it  in  the  pulpit,  because 
that  is  religion  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  You  must  not  say  anything  about  it  in  politics, 
because  that  'will  disturb  the  security  of  "my  place."  There  is  no  place  to  talk  about  it  as 
being  a  wrong,  although  you  may  say  yourself  it  is  a  wrong.  But  finally,  you  will  screw 
yourself  up  to  the  belief  that  if  the  people  of  the  slave  States  should  adopt  a  system  of  gradual 
emancipation  on  the  slavery  question,  you  would  be  in  favor  of  it.  You  say  that  is  getting  it 
in  the  right  place,  and  you  would  be  glad  to  see  it  succeed.  But  you  are  deceiving  yourself. 
You  all  know  that  Frank  Blair  and  Gt&tz  Brown  undertook  to  introduce  that  system  in  Missouri. 
They  fought  as  valiantly  as  they  could  for  the  system  of  gradual  emancipation  which  you 
pretend  you  would  be  glad  to  succeed.  Now  I  will  bring  you  to  the  test.  After  a  hard  fight, 
they  w^ere  beaten,  and  when  the  news  came  over  here  you  threw  up  your  hats  and  hurrahed 
for  Democracy.  More  than  that,  take  all  the  argument  made  in  favor  of  the  system  you  have 
proposed,  and  it  carefuUy  excludes  the  idea  that  there  is  anything  wrong  in  the  institution  of 
slavery.  The  arguments  to  sustain  that  policy  carefully  exclude  it.  Even  here  to-day,  you 
heard  Judge  Douglas  quarrel  with  me  because  I  uttered  a  wish  that  it  might  sometime  come  to 
an  end.  Although  Henry  Clay  could  say  he  wished  every  slave  in  the  United  States  was  in 
the  country  of  his  ancestors,  I  am  denounced  by  those  pretending  to  respect  Henry  Clay  for  utter- 
ing a  wish  that  it  might  sometime,  in  some  peaceful  way,  come  to  an  end.  The  Democratic 
policy  in  regard  to  that  institution  will  not  tolerate  the  merest  breath,  the  slightest  hint,  of  the 
least  degree  of  wrong  about  it.  Try  it  by  some  of  Judge  Douglas's  arguments.  He  says  he 
"  don't  care  whether  it  is  voted  up  or  voted  down  "  in  the  Territories.  I  do  not  care  myself,  in 
dealing  with  that  expression,  whether  it  is  intended  to  be  expressive  of  his  individual  sentiments 
on  the  subject,  or  only  of  the  national  policy  he  desires  to  have  established.  It  is  alike  valuable 
for  my  purpose.  Any  man  can  say  that  who  does  not  see  anything  wrong  in  slavery,  but  no 
man  can  logically  say  it  who  does  see  a  wrong  in  it ;  because  no  man  can  logically  say  he  don't 
care  whether  a  wrong  is  voted  up  or  voted  down.  He  may  say  he  don't  care  whether  an  indif- 
ferent thing  is  voted  up  or  down,  but  he  must  logically  have  a  choice  between  a  right  thing  and 
a  wrong  thing.  He  contends  that  whatever  community  wants  slaves  has  a  right  to  have  them. 
So  they  have  if  it  is  not  a  wrong.  But  if  it  is  a  wrong,  he  cannot  say  people  have  a  right  to 
do  wrong.  He  says  that,  upon  the  score  of  equality,  slaves  should  be  allowed  to  go  into  a  new 
Territory,  like  other  property.  This  is  strictly  logical  if  there  is  no  difference  between  it  and 
other  property.  If  it  and  other  property  are  equal,  his  argument  is  entirely  logical.  But  if  you 
insist  that  one  is  wrong  and  the  other  right,  there  is  no  use  to  institute  a  comparison  between 
right  and  wrong.  You  may  turn  over  everything  in  the  Democratic  policy  from  beginning  to 
end,  whether  in  the  shape  it  takes  on  the  statute  book,  in  the  shape  it  takes  in  the  Dred  Scott 
Decision,  in  the  shape  it  takes  in  conversation,  or  in  the  shape  it  takes  in  short,  maxim-like 
arguments  —  it  everywhere  carefully  excludes  the  idea  that  there  is  anything  wrong  in  it. 

That  is  the  real  issue.  That  is  the  issue  that  will  continue  in  this  country  when  these  poor 
tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself  shall  be  silent.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these  two 
principles  —  right  and  wrong  —  throughout  the  world.  They  are  the  tw^o  principles  that  have 
stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time ;  and  will  ever  continue  to  struggle.    The  one  is 

82 


tte  common  right  of  humanity,  and  the  other  the  divine  right  of  kings.  It  is  the  same  principle 
in  whatever  shape  it  develops  itself.  It  is  the  same  spirit  that  says,  "  You  work  and  toil  and 
earn  bread,  and  I'll  eat  it."  No  matter  in  what  shape  it  comes,  whether  from  the  mouth  of  a 
king  who  seeks  to  bestride  the  people  of  his  own  nation  and  live  by  the  fruit  of  their  labor,  or 
from  one  race  of  men  as  an  apology  for  enslaving  another  race,  it  is  the  same  tyrannical  prin- 
ciple. I  was  glad  to  express  my  gratitude  at  Quincy,  and  I  re-express  it  here  to  Judge  Douglas 
—  ihat  he  looks  to  no  end  of  the  institution  of  sla'very.  That  will  help  the  people  to  see  where 
the  struggle  really  is.  It  will  hereafter  place  with  us  all  men  who  really  do  wish  the  wrong 
may  have  an  end.  And  whenever  we  can  get  rid  of  the  fog  which  obscures  the  real  question  — 
when  we  can  get  Judge  Douglas  and  his  friends  to  avow  a  policy  looking  to  its  perpetuation  — 
we  can  get  out  from  among  them  that  class  of  men  and  bring  them  to  the  side  of  those  who 
treat  it  as  a  wrong.  Then  there  will  soon  be  an  end  of  it,  and  that  will  be  its  "  ultimate  extinc- 
tion." Whenever  the  issue  can  be  distinctly  made,  and  all  extraneous  matter  thrown  out,  so 
that  men  can  fairly  see  the  real  difference  between  the  parties,  this  controversy  will  soon  be 
settled,  and  it  will  be  done  peaceably,  too.  There  will  be  no  war,  no  violence.  It  will  be 
placed  again  where  the  wisest  and  best  men  of  the  world  placed  it.  Brooks  of  South  Carolina 
once  declared  that,  when  this  Constitution  was  framed,  its  framers  did  not  look  to  the  institution 
existing  until  tliis  day.  When  he  said  this,  I  think  he  stated  a  fact  that  is  fully  borne  out  by  the 
history  of  the  times.  But  he  also  said  they  w^ere  better  and  wiser  men  than  the  men  of  these 
days ;  yet  the  men  of  these  days  had  experience  which  they  had  not,  and  by  the  invention  of 
the  cotton-gin  it  became  a  necessity  in  this  country  that  slavery  should  be  perpetual.  I  now 
say  that,  willingly  or  unwillingly,  purposely  or  without  purpose.  Judge  Douglas  has  been  the 
most  prominent  instrument  in  changing  the  position  of  the  institution  of  slavery  wtiich  the  fath- 
ers of  the  Government  expected  to  come  to  an  end  ere  this  —  and  putting  it  upon  Brooks's  cot- 
ton-gin basis  —  placing  it  where  he  openly  confesses  he  has  no  desire  there  shall  ever  be  an  end 
of  it. 

■^  The  canvass  was  now  finished— a  canvass  in  some  respects  the 
most  remarkable  ever  witnessed  in  this  country— and  naught 
remained  but  for  the  people  to  record  their  verdict.  Each  of  the 
speakers  addressed  public  meetings  up  to  the  day  of  election.  Mr. 
Lincoln  made  about  sixty  speeches  during  the  canvass,  traversing 
almost  the  entire  State,  by  nearly  every  conceivable  mode  of 
travel.  He  spoke  usually  from  two  to  three  hours,  nearly  always 
in  the  open  air,  and  to  audiences  so  large  as  to  require  great  effort 
on  his  part  to  be  heard  distinctly  by  all.  During  these  arduous 
labors,  he  never  once  faltered,  never  exhibited  signs  of  weariness, 
never  failed  to  meet  an  appointment.  He  seemed  to  grow  fresher 
and  stronger  as  the  campaign  progressed.  Exercise  in  the  open 
air,  travel,  and  the  excitement  incident  to  the  canvass,  were,  in 
some  respects,  a  return  to  the  habits  of  his  early  life,  and  the  effect 
was  plainly  visible  upon  his  physical  man.  His  voice  grew  clearer 
and  stronger  to  the  very  last  day ;  and  at  the  close  he  was  heavier 
by  nearly  twenty  pounds  than  at  the  beginning  of  the  canvass.  He 
exhibited  powers  of  endurance  that  have  rarely  been  equaled.   The 

83 


gallant  manner  in  which  he  bore  himself  at  his  meetings  with 
Douglas,  and  the  transcendent  ability  which  he  displayed  on  all 
occasions,  more  than  satisfied  his  friends.  His  progress  through 
the  State  had  all  the  characteristics  of  a  triumphal  march.  He  was 
met  by  large  deputations  from  every  town  which  he  entered,  ten- 
dering him,  in  behalf  of  its  citizens,  a  cordial  welcome  to  their  hos- 
pitalities and  a  warm  place  in  their  affections.  The  subsequent 
publication  of  his  debates  with  Douglas,  precisely  as  they  were 
reported  by  their  respective  friends,  without  a  word  of  comment  or 
explanation,  and  its  general  circulation  as  a  Republican  campaign 
document,  is  the  highest  testimonial  that  could  be  offered  to  the 
genius,  to  the  ability,  to  the  broad  and  comprehensive  views,  and 
to  the  statesmanlike  character  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 
^  The  election  took  place  on  the  2d  of  November.  The  excite- 
ment which  had  wrought  the  State  up  to  a  tempest  during  the  pro- 
gress of  the  fight,  culminated  on  this  eventful  day.  The  whole 
number  of  votes  cast  for  President  in  Illinois,  in  1 856,  was  238,98 1 ; 
the  whole  number  cast  for  members  of  the  Legislature,  in  1858, 
was  251,148.  A  drenching  and  chilling  rain  poured  down  all  day 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  extending  southward,  with  more 
or  less  discomfort  to  voters,  as  far  as  Vandalia.  It  did  not,  how- 
ever, reach  "Lower  Egypt."  The  result  of  the  election  is  matter 
of  history.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  a  majority  over  Mr.  Douglas,  in  the 
popular  vote,  of  4,085;  while,  by  an  unfair  apportionment  law,  the 
latter  had  a  small  majority  of  the  Legislature,  and  was  therefore 
re-elected  to  the  Senate.  A  careful  analysis  of  the  official  returns 
reveals  the  following  facts : 

J^  1st.  That  according  to  the  census  of  1855,  the  33  districts  car- 
ried by  the  Democrats,  and  electing  40  members,  contained  606,- 
278  population,  and  the  25  districts  carried  by  the  Republicans  and 
electing  35  members,  contained  699,840  population,  or  93,562  more 
than  the  districts  carried  by  the  Democrats. 

.^  2d.  That  in  a  Democratic  district  the  ratio  of  representation  was 
15,156  inhabitants  to  a  member,  while  in  Republican  districts  it 
required  19,910  inhabitants  to  a  member. 

■S^3d.  That  the  true  ratio  being  1 7,42  J  inhabitants  to  a  member, 
had  the  Legislature  been  elected  on  that  basis,  the  Republican  dis- 
84 


tricts  would  have  been  entitled  to  forty  members  of  the  House  and 
fourteen  Senators,  and  the  Democrats  to  thirty-five  members  of 
the  House  and  eleven  Senators — exactly  reversing  the  number 
each  side  secured.  Of  course,  this  would  have  elected  Lincoln  by 
the  same  majority  on  joint  ballot  that  Douglas  received.  Had 
every  citizen  possessed  an  equal  weight  and  voice  in  the  choice  of 
Senator,  Mr.  Douglas  would  now  be  a  private  citizen  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  a  member  of  the  U.  S.  Senate.  Mr.  Douglas  is  a  Senator 
from  Illinois  through  a  palpable  violation  of  the  principles  of  popu- 
lar sovereignty. 

CONCLUSION. 

jp.  The  man  whose  history  we  have  thus  briefly  traced  now  stands 
before  the  country  the  chosen  candidate  of  the  Republican  party 
for  President  of  the  United  States.  Commencing  life  under  circum- 
stances the  most  discouraging,  we  have  seen  him  courageously 
and  manfully  battling  his  way  upward  from  one  position  of  honor 
and  responsibility  to  another,  until  he  now  stands  in  an  attitude  to 
place  his  foot  upon  the  very  topmost  round  of  honorable  fame.  He 
presents  in  his  own  person  the  best  living  illustration  of  the  true 
dignity  of  labor,  and  of  the  genius  of  our  free  American  institutions, 
having  been  elevated  through  their  instrumentality  from  poverty 
and  obscurity  to  his  present  distinguished  position. 
■^Perhaps  no  more  appropriate  conclusion  can  be  given  to  this 
sketch  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  life,  than  the  following,  relative  to  his  per- 
sonal appearance,  habits,  tastes,  &c.,  which  is  copied  from  the  Chi- 
cago Press  and  Tribune,  and  for  the  correctness  of  which,  in  every 
particular,  we  can  fully  vouch : 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  stands  six  feet  four  inches  high  in  his  stockings.  His  frame  b  not  muscular, 
but  gaunt  and  wiry.  In  walking,  his  gait,  though  firm,  is  never  brisk.  He  steps  slowly  and 
deliberately,  almost  always  with  his  head  inclined  forward,  and  his  hands  clasped  behind  his 
back.  In  manner,  he  is  remarkably  cordial,  and  at  the  same  time  simple.  His  politeness  is 
always  sincere,  but  never  elaborate  or  oppressive.  A  warm  shake  of  the  hand  and  a  warmer 
smile  of  recognition  are  his  methods  of  greeting  his  friends.  At  rest,  his  features,  though  they 
are  those  of  a  man  of  mark,  are  not  such  as  belong  to  a  handsome  man ;  but  when  tiis  fine, 
dark-gray  eyes  are  lighted  up  by  any  emotion,  and  his  features  begin  their  play,  he  would  be 
chosen  from  among  a  crowd  as  one  who  had  in  him  not  only  the  kindly  sentiments  which 
women  love,  but  the  heavier  metal  of  which  full-grown  men  and  Presidents  are  made.  His  hair 
is  black,  and  though  thin,  is  wiry.  His  head  sits  well  on  tiis  shoulders,  but  beyond  that  it  defies 
description.    It  nearer  resembles  that  of  Clay  than  \^ebster's,  but  is  unlike  either.    It  is  very 

85 


large,  and  phrenologically  well  proportioned,  betokening  power  in  all  its  developments.  A 
slightly  Roman  nose,  a  wide<trt  mouth,  and  a  dark  complexion,  with  the  appearance  of  having 
been  weather-beaten,  complete  the  description. 

"  In  his  personal  habits,  Mr.  Lincoln  is  as  simple  as  a  child.  He  loves  a  good  dinner,  and  eats 
with  the  appetite  which  goes  with  a  great  brain ;  but  his  food  is  plain  and  nutritious.  He  never 
drinks  intoxicating  liquors  of  any  sort.  He  is  not  addicted  to  tobacco  in  any  of  its  shapes.  He 
was  never  accused  of  a  licentious  act  in  his  life.  He  never  uses  profane  language.  He  never 
gambles.  He  is  particularly  cautious  about  incurring  pecuniary  obligations  for  any  purpose 
whatever  t  and,  in  debt,  he  is  never  content  until  the  score  is  discharged.  We  presume  he  owes 
no  man  a  dollar.  He  never  speculates.  The  rage  for  the  sudden  acquisition  of  wealth  never 
took  hold  of  him.  His  gains  from  his  profession  have  been  moderate,  but  sufficient  for  his 
purposes.  While  others  have  dreamed  of  gold,  he  has  been  in  pursuit  of  knowledge.  In  all  liis 
dealings,  he  has  the  reputation  of  being  generous  but  exact,  and,  above  all,  religiously  honest. 
He  would  be  a  bold  man  who  would  say  that  Abraham  Lincoln  ever  wronged  a  man  out  of  a 
cent,  or  ever  spent  a  dollar  that  he  had  not  honestly  earned.  His  struggles  in  early  life  have 
made  him  careful  of  money,  but  his  generosity  with  his  own  is  proverbial.  He  is  a  regular 
attendant  upon  religious  worship,  and,  though  not  a  communicant,  is  a  pew-holder  and  liberal 
supporter  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Springfield,  to  which  Mrs.  Lincoln  belongs.  He  is  a 
scrupulous  teller  of  the  truth  —  too  exact  in  his  notions  to  suit  the  atmosphere  of  Washington,  as 
it  now  is.  His  enemies  may  say  that  he  tells  Black  Republican  lies ;  but  no  man  ever  charged 
that,  in  a  professional  capacity,  or  as  a  citizen  dealing  with  his  neighbors,  he  would  depart  from 
the  scriptural  command.  At  home,  he  lives  like  a  gentleman  of  modest  means  and  simple 
tastes.  A  good-sized  house  of  wood,  simply  but  tastefully  furnished,  surrounded  by  trees  and 
flowers,  is  his  own ;  there  he  lives,  at  peace  with  himself,  the  idol  of  his  family,  and  for  his 
honesty,  ability  and  patriotism,  the  admiration  of  his  countrymen. 

"  If  Mr.  Lincoln  is  elected  President,  he  will  carry  but  little  that  b  ornamental  to  the  White 
House.  The  country  must  accept  his  sincerity,  his  ability,  and  his  honesty,  in  the  mould  in 
which  they  are  cast.  He  will  not  be  able  to  make  so  polite  a  bow  as  Franklin  Pierce,  but  he 
will  not  commence  anew  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  by  recommending  to  Congress 
any  Kansas-Nebraska  Bills.  He  may  not  preside  at  the  Presidential  dinners  with  the  ease  and 
grace  which  distinguish  the  *  venerable  public  functionary,'  Mr.  Buchanan ;  but  he  will  not  cre- 
ate the  necessity  for  a  Covode  Committee  and  the  disgraceful  revelations  of  Cornelius  Wendell. 
He  will  take  to  the  Presidential  Chair  just  the  qualities  which  the  country  now  demands  to  save 
it  from  impending  destruction  —  ability  that  no  man  can  question,  firmness  that  nothing  can 
overbear,  honesty  that  never  has  been  impeached,  and  patriotism  that  never  despairs." 


PRINTED  AT  THE  CRANBROOK  PRESS,  DETROIT, 
MICHIGAN,  U.  S.  A.,  IN  THE  YEAR  MDCCCC,  THIS 
EDITION  BEING  LIMITED  TO  245  COPIES,  OF  WHICH 
THIS  IS  NO.  '^.'^. 


-z'  S     .  ' 


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